The Emfuleni Local Municipality lost 16.4 million kilolitres of clean water in the 2024/2025 financial year, valued at over R880 million, despite spending a staggering R57 million paying 11 service providers to plug the water leaks. The unresolved water leaks caused by infrastructure neglect and failure to replace deteriorating water infrastructure have left residents without reliable access to water and sanitation services.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has already requested the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to investigate Emfuleni for violating residents’ constitutional right to access to water and sanitation services. We are currently awaiting the outcome.
This information about the water leaks and the municipality’s spending was revealed by Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Jacob Mamabolo, in a written reply to the DA’s question tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).
See full reply here.
It is scandalous that Emfuleni claims to have spent such a huge amount of money repairing water leaks, yet continues to lose millions of kilolitres of clean, treated water daily due to persistent leaks in the ageing infrastructure. Clearly, the money was not spent on resolving the issue that has been undermining efforts to ensure reliable access to water for its residents.
The gravity of the crisis is exacerbated by the fact that Emfuleni senselessly returned R636 million of its Municipal Infrastructure Grant funds in the past five financial years, which were urgently needed for critical infrastructure such as water, sanitation, and roads. Additionally, this municipality has spent R561 million on unnecessary overtime between 2019/2020 and 2023/2024, without any improvement in service delivery, which strongly indicates mismanagement, financial recklessness, or deeply entrenched corruption.
The DA has long called on Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and COGTA MEC Mamabolo to exercise urgent and enhanced oversight over the Emfuleni Local Municipality, which has been marred by financial mismanagement, failed service delivery, and public health risks. Despite these warnings and public outcry, the Premier and the MEC have failed to intervene meaningfully, allowing this municipality to teeter on the brink of total collapse, not due to a lack of funds, but poor leadership.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial government would ensure that the Department of COGTA and Treasury intervenes to help improve efficiency in Emfuleni’s financial management to ensure that service providers deliver quality work for the benefit of its residents.
The DA will continue to monitor the progress of the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) investigation, as we firmly believe it can bring meaningful change for the residents of Emfuleni.