Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum calls for intervention after water boards point to collapse that will increase water tariffs

Lambert de Klerk (English)

The series of alarming corporate plan presentations tabled in Parliament last week by Overberg Water, Magalies Water and uMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW) has compelled AfriForum to demand urgent intervention at municipalities who fail to reduce water losses and maintain infrastructure. The latest documents confirm that South Africa’s water system is being crippled by municipal collapse, ongoing neglect of infrastructure and unprecedented financial mismanagement, which is consequently forcing communities to bear the cost by paying high water tariffs.

In each of the submissions, it is clear that municipalities are losing enormous volumes of water through leaks, failure to maintain infrastructure and non-payment of their bulk water accounts. All boards also highlighted the fact that there are severe backlogs in the replacement of pipelines, refurbishment of pumpstations and rehabilitation of water treatment works.

UUW reports that KwaZulu-Natal’s municipalities are losing more than 1 billion liter of water per day (worth R6,2 billion annually) due to leaks and non-revenue water losses. UUW is also owed R3,9 billion by municipalities, with R2,7 billion already impaired as losses. This places extreme pressure on its balance sheet and future tariffs.

“Municipalities are crippling the water system, while water boards are being forced into permanent crisis-management mode,” says Lambert de Klerk, Manager of Environmental Affairs at AfriForum. “The boards are essentially telling Parliament that they are supplying water into leaking, collapsing and non-paying municipal systems resulting in communities being punished with higher tariffs.”

Tariffs will keep rising because municipalities refuse to fix leaks. To keep up with escalating infrastructure failure and rising operational costs, UUW projects tariff increases of around 12% year-on-year over the medium term. Other boards indicate similar upward pressure, largely because they are expected to augment supply rather than municipalities fixing their own leaks.

“The vicious cycle will continue with municipalities losing half of their water supply, failing to maintain infrastructure and pay bills, resulting in residents who actually pay for water being forced to further fund the shortfall,” De Klerk says.

Even where water boards have strong technical performance — for example, UUW achieving 97,6% compliance on potable water quality — the financial stress caused by municipal dysfunction undermines their ability to invest in future bulk supply.

“These are not isolated failures. This is systematic collapse driven by political interference, no maintenance, and no accountability at municipal level. While water boards are planning billions in infrastructure investment, municipalities are sabotaging those efforts by failing to repair leaks and bill properly, and allowing debt to balloon,” de Klerk adds.

AfriForum therefore reiterates its call for urgent intervention by National Treasury and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to, among other things, implement public accountability measures for municipal officials who fail to maintain water infrastructure; provide full transparency on non-revenue water for every municipality; and plan and implement a national turnaround plan for municipal water losses, prioritising leak repair, pressure management and metering.

The civil rights organisation has also asked for approval to carry out community-based repairs, so that accredited private plumbers and AfriForum branches can repair leaks and sewage problems that municipalities ignore.

“These corporate plans are not warnings for the future; they are confirmation of a crisis that is already here. South Africa will not achieve water security unless municipal collapse is confronted head-on. That is why communities and the private sector need to be allowed to step-in where the state cannot or will not deliver,” De Klerk concludes.

AfriForum will continue to monitor all water board performance plans and intensify pressure on national and local government to protect the country’s water security.