Free State municipality shells out millions for water tankers as dependency grows – AfriForum demands answers

AfriForum is demanding accountability from the Setsoto Local Municipality after the Municipality spent more than R14 million on the rental of water tankers for the period from March 2025 to March 2026. This expenditure is three times of that which the Municipality spent on the same service barely two years ago during the 2023/2024 financial year, when it forked out approximately R4,6 million on watertankers. According to AfriForum, this indicates a serious and growing reliance on water tankers to supply water to residents.

The Municipality’s 2016/2017 annual report stated that water tankers were deployed due to drought conditions experienced in the area. Since then, however, it has become clear that water tankers are no longer being used merely for emergency drought relief, but rather as an ongoing measure to cope with the systemic collapse of water infrastructure.

Moreover, the latest available annual report for the 2024/2025 financial year reveals that the Municipality spent only 53% (or approximately R4,4 million) of the budgeted amount of nearly R8,2 million on the repair and maintenance of water services. This underspending of the budget earmarked for critical maintenance points to a concerning trend within the Municipality of pursuing short-term solutions rather than sustainable, long-term ones.

In a letter sent today to Municipal Manager Nomvula Malatjie and the Free State MEC for Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements, Teboho Mokoena, AfriForum is demanding answers regarding the increasing use of this costly measure.

According to Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s Head for the Central Region, relying on emergency water supplies is necessary only in exceptional cases. However, it appears that this emergency measure has now become the norm.

“It is unacceptable that residents of Ficksburg, Clocolan, Marquard and Senekal are dependent on temporary emergency measures while millions of rands are spent on these tankers without the underlying infrastructure problems being resolved. When a municipality spends millions on emergency measures year after year, it is not a sign of successful service delivery, but rather of poor planning, inadequate maintenance, and deficient management,” explains Grobbelaar.

AfriForum is now pressing the Municipality for answers regarding, among other things:

• why the Municipality continues to rely on private water tanker service providers rather than prioritising the repair and expansion of water infrastructure; and
• what steps are being taken to phase out the use of water tankers as a routine measure.

Grobbelaar describes the apparent absence of a feasibility study – to determine the cost-effectiveness of infrastructure development or the Municipality purchasing its own water tankers versus the long-term use of contractors – as concerning.

“The situation in the Setsoto Municipality is symptomatic of a larger problem found in numerous municipalities across the country. Poor management and a lack of long-term planning leads to increasing expenditure on emergency solutions, while infrastructure continues to deteriorate further. Every rand spent on recurring emergency measures is a rand not used to realise permanent solutions. Municipalities need to move away from crisis management and instead focus on crisis prevention,” Grobbelaar concludes.

Add your voice to AfriForum’s fight against cadre deployment

The ongoing deterioration of municipal infrastructure and the waste of public funds are the direct result of poor management and a lack of accountability. Support AfriForum’s fight against cadre deployment and incompetent municipal management here.