Strengthening municipal systems for inclusive and sustainable water and sanitation in South Africa

The report identifies a critical gap between South Africa's progressive water and sanitation policies and the actual delivery of services, which is hindered by systemic weaknesses, financial instability, and a lack of infrastructure maintenance. It argues that current efforts to improve outcomes focus too heavily on technical skills training while ignoring structural flaws in the local government fiscal framework and the erosion of Free Basic Services (FBS). The document recommends that the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) utilize Section 63 of the Water Services Act to enforce delivery standards, reform the infrastructure maintenance funding model, and adopt a co-production model for community participation.

• Despite a clear institutional framework and progressive policies, water service reliability in South Africa has declined since 1994; as of May 2020, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) confirmed only 64% of households had access to a reliable water supply service.
• The Free Basic Services (FBS) policy has suffered significant erosion, with only approximately 20% of households funded in the national budget actually receiving these services from their respective municipalities.
• The current funding model for infrastructure maintenance is failing because municipalities must fund maintenance from their own revenue rather than through dedicated conditional grants, leading to a maintenance backlog estimated at R200 billion.
• Municipal service costs have increased significantly above inflation between 2010 and 2020, with water charges rising by 213%, rendering services unaffordable for many poor households.
• There is a systemic bias toward funding and building new infrastructure over maintaining existing assets, which results in new projects falling into disrepair and a waste of resources.
• The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) possesses a powerful but underutilized tool in Section 63 of the Water Services Act, which allows it to request provincial intervention or assume responsibility for functions if a water services authority fails to perform.
• Efforts to improve municipal capacity have focused almost exclusively on technical skills and training, which is insufficient as it does not address structural problems such as the local government fiscal framework or high staff turnover.
• Local government is in severe financial distress, with 79% of municipalities having a financial health status described as 'concerning or requiring urgent intervention' in the 2018/19 financial year.
• Community participation in municipal service delivery is largely minimal and compliance-driven, often limited to the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) processes, leading many communities to resort to protest or self-supply as a last resort.

APA

Ledger, T., Tissington, K., & Potter, A. (2021). Strengthening municipal systems for inclusive and sustainable water and sanitation in South Africa. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WaterAid-Strengthening-Municipal-Systems-Medium.pdf

Chicago

Ledger, Tracy, Kate Tissington, and Alana Potter. Strengthening municipal systems for inclusive and sustainable water and sanitation in South Africa. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2021. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WaterAid-Strengthening-Municipal-Systems-Medium.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ledger |first1=Tracy |last2=Tissington |first2=Kate |last3=Potter |first3=Alana |title=Strengthening municipal systems for inclusive and sustainable water and sanitation in South Africa |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=November 2021 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WaterAid-Strengthening-Municipal-Systems-Medium.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ledger2021strengthening, author = {Ledger, Tracy and Tissington, Kate and Potter, Alana}, title = {{Strengthening municipal systems for inclusive and sustainable water and sanitation in South Africa}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WaterAid-Strengthening-Municipal-Systems-Medium.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }