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IOL News
09-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Godongwana withholds grants from municipalities owing water boards
Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana Image: Phando Jikelo/ Parliament of SA Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has informed his Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs counterpart, Velenkosini Hlabisa, that he intends to withhold millions of rand in grants to several municipalities due to their persistent failure to settle billions in debt. The 39 municipalities are in the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, and Limpopo. According to Godongwana, 18 defaulting municipalities owe the highest amounts to the four water boards facing imminent bankruptcy. In total, the 18 municipalities owe Vaal Central, Magalies Water, Lepelle Northern Water, and Rand Water nearly R18 billion. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Matjhabeng Local Municipality in the Free State owes Vaal Central over R8.13bn. Kopanong and Mafube local municipalities, both in the Free State, were R330 million and R253.4m, respectively, in arrears for pension fund contributions. Rand Water, Vaal Central, Lepelle Northern, and Magalies Water have been advised to enforce their credit control policies to also attach the bank accounts of defaulting municipalities to ensure a change in their behaviour. Godongwana said pension funds were also owed about R820 million by 18 municipalities, while the Auditor-General South Africa's (AGSA) debt stands at R68.4m across six municipalities. He told Hlabisa on June 30 that SARS' outstanding debt was R197.5m across eight municipalities. 'This letter serves as a consultative mechanism with you in terms of section 38(2)(c) of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) with regard to the intention of the National Treasury to invoke section 216(2) of the Constitution by stopping the transfer of the July 7, 2025 tranche of the equitable share and all the grants to be transferred to the 39 municipalities,' stated Godongwana. The Constitution provides that the National Treasury must enforce compliance with the established measures and may stop the transfer of funds to an organ of state if that organ of state commits a serious or persistent material breach of those measures. Additionally, the MFMA requires the National Treasury to consult the Cabinet member responsible for the national department making the transfer. Godongwana cited persistent failure by the 39 municipalities to pay water boards and/or third parties like pension funds, medical aids, SARS, and the AGSA, and/or adopting unfunded budgets for the invocation of the Constitution. Stringent conditions have been set for each of the municipalities, including forcing them to provide proof that it has fully paid the outstanding amounts owed to the respective water boards, or else the local government's equitable share of that municipality will be stopped and will only be released to the municipality in portions with conditions. 'The conditions describe that the first amount of the withheld equitable share is to be released and strictly used to pay the water boards' current accounts and provide evidence to the National Treasury in the form of a proof of payment. 'Should this condition be met, then the second amount of the equitable share will be released and strictly used to honour any arrears owed in terms of a valid repayment arrangement with the water board and provide evidence to the National Treasury in the form of a proof of payment,' the finance minister warned. Godongwana said if the conditions are met, then the July 2025 tranche of the equitable share will be released under specified conditions until such time that all outstanding water board debt has been resolved. The National Treasury has also indicated that if both conditions are not met or municipalities fail to submit the evidence that SARS, pension funds, and other relevant statutory third parties have been paid, it will approach Parliament to endorse that its decision to stop the transfer of all the equitable share due to the municipality over the remainder of the 2025/26 financial year (June 30, 2026) for the municipality's persistent failure. Godongwana said a similar approach will be followed for the municipalities that persist with unfunded budgets. 'All 39 municipalities will be required to provide evidence that SARS, pension, and other staff benefits deducted from salaries of municipal officials have been paid over to the appropriate institution within the prescribed period,' he added.
IOL News
08-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Finance minister to withhold grants from municipalities over unpaid billions
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is threatening to withhold millions of rand in equitable share and grants to be transferred to the 39 municipalities over billions of rand they owe. Image: Elmond Jiyane / GCIS Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has informed his Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs counterpart, Velenkosini Hlabisa, that he intends to withhold millions of rand in grants to several municipalities due to their persistent failure to settle billions in debt. The 39 municipalities are in the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, and Limpopo. According to Godongwana, 18 defaulting municipalities owe the highest amounts to the four water boards facing imminent bankruptcy. In total, the 18 municipalities owe Vaal Central, Magalies Water, Lepelle Northern Water, and Rand Water nearly R18 billion. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Matjhabeng Local Municipality in the Free State owes Vaal Central over R8.13bn. Kopanong and Mafube local municipalities, both in the Free State, were R330 million and R253.4m, respectively, in arrears for pension fund contributions. Rand Water, Vaal Central, Lepelle Northern, and Magalies Water have been advised to enforce their credit control policies to also attach the bank accounts of defaulting municipalities to ensure a change in their behaviour. Godongwana said pension funds were also owed about R820 million by 18 municipalities, while the Auditor-General South Africa's (AGSA's) debt stands at R68.4m across six municipalities. He told Hlabisa on June 30 that SARS' outstanding debt was R197.5m across eight municipalities. 'This letter serves as a consultative mechanism with you in terms of section 38(2)(c) of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) with regard to the intention of the National Treasury to invoke section 216(2) of the Constitution by stopping the transfer of the July 7, 2025 tranche of the equitable share and all the grants to be transferred to the 39 municipalities,' stated Godongwana. The Constitution provides that the National Treasury must enforce compliance with the established measures and may stop the transfer of funds to an organ of state if that organ of state commits a serious or persistent material breach of those measures. Additionally, the MFMA requires the National Treasury to consult the Cabinet member responsible for the national department making the transfer. Godongwana cited persistent failure by the 39 municipalities to pay water boards and/or third parties like pension funds, medical aids, SARS, and the AGSA, and/or adopting unfunded budgets for the invocation of the Constitution. Stringent conditions have been set for each of the municipalities, including forcing them to provide proof that it has fully paid the outstanding amounts owed to the respective water boards, or else the local government's equitable share of that municipality will be stopped and will only be released to the municipality in portions with conditions. 'The conditions describe that the first amount of the withheld equitable share is to be released and strictly used to pay the water boards' current accounts and provide evidence to the National Treasury in the form of a proof of payment. 'Should this condition be met, then the second amount of the equitable share will be released and strictly used to honour any arrears owed in terms of a valid repayment arrangement with the water board and provide evidence to the National Treasury in the form of a proof of payment,' the finance minister warned. Godongwana said if the conditions are met, then the July 2025 tranche of the equitable share will be released under specified conditions until such time that all outstanding water board debt has been resolved. The National Treasury has also indicated that if both conditions are not met or municipalities fail to submit the evidence that SARS, pension funds, and other relevant statutory third parties have been paid, it will approach Parliament to endorse that its decision to stop the transfer of all the equitable share due to the municipality over the remainder of the 2025/26 financial year (June 30, 2026) for the municipality's persistent failure. Godongwana said a similar approach will be followed for the municipalities that persist with unfunded budgets. 'All 39 municipalities will be required to provide evidence that SARS, pension, and other staff benefits deducted from salaries of municipal officials have been paid over to the appropriate institution within the prescribed period,' he added.
IOL News
27-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Water Crisis: Out of water, out of time, and out of excuses
More than R22 billion is owed to water boards, with entities such as Sedibeng Water already bankrupt. Magalies Water and Vaal Central Water were on the verge of collapse, threatening water supplies to entire provinces. Image: Doctor Ngcobo/Independent Newspapers SOUTH Africa's water crisis is spiralling out of control, with nearly half the country's drinking water now unsafe, wastewater treatment plants collapsing, and billions of rand owed by bankrupt municipalities. A damning presentation to Parliament's Select Committee on Water and Sanitation this week revealed a system in freefall, where corruption, incompetence, and neglect have pushed the nation to the brink of a full-blown public health disaster. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) admitted that nearly half of the country's water supply systems failed basic safety standards, a shocking increase from just 5% 10 years ago. The Blue Drop Report for 2023 painted a grim picture: Gauteng, with the most skilled personnel, has the best-performing systems, while the Northern Cape, plagued by severe staff shortages, had the worst. Meanwhile, a shocking 66% of municipal wastewater treatment plants are in disrepair, with more than 60% of municipalities discharging partially treated or even raw sewage directly into rivers. 'We are facing a water pollution crisis,' Deputy Minister Isaac Seitholo told MPs. 'Unless we urgently fix dysfunctional wastewater treatment works, the pollution will escalate, with devastating consequences for human health, the environment, and local economies.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading The Vaal River, which supplies about 60% of the country's population, is among the hardest hit. Despite the launch of the Vaal River Anti-Pollution Forum last October, Seitholo admitted that pollution continued largely unchecked. The Wilge and Vals rivers were also severely contaminated, with sewage spills and industrial waste turning them into toxic hazards. The EFF's Khanya Ceza demanded answers: 'How can we allow our people to drink increasingly contaminated water while municipalities and industries dump waste with impunity?' He pointed to the SA Human Rights Commission's findings, which revealed severe water access failures in Bushbuckridge, eMalahleni, and other neglected regions. The financial collapse of municipalities is accelerating the crisis. More than R22 billion is owed to water boards, with entities such as Sedibeng Water already bankrupt. Magalies Water and Vaal Central Water were on the verge of collapse, threatening water supplies to entire provinces. To recover debt, National Treasury is now withholding equitable share funds from defaulting municipalities, but this risks crippling service delivery even further. 'If these water boards collapse, entire regions will be left without water,' director-general of the DWS, Dr Sean Phillips, warned. Deputy Minister Mahlobo acknowledged the dilemma: 'Municipalities don't pay, infrastructure fails, and communities suffer. We are trapped in a vicious cycle.' The Committee heard shocking accounts of delayed mega-projects, rampant corruption, and violent disruptions by construction mafias. The Clanwilliam Dam wall project, initially budgeted at R2.2bn, ballooned to R5.6bn, with only 22% completed. Meanwhile, the Kroonstad wastewater treatment works, which cost R105 million, is non-functional despite years of work. 'Construction mafias have killed workers in eThekwini and Rand Water projects,' Mahlobo said. The DWS has now classified key water infrastructure as national strategic assets, deploying law enforcement to protect sites, but progress remains slow. Despite ambitious targets to eliminate water backlogs, MPs questioned how this could be achieved when informal settlements expand daily and rural municipalities such as OR Tambo, Amathole, and Sekhukhune remain chronically underfunded. The MK Party's Edward Nzimande slammed the DWS for failing to address inequality: 'Why are dumping sites and pollution always concentrated in townships and rural areas, while affluent suburbs remain untouched?' The DWS insisted that new reforms — such as the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) — would rescue the sector. However, with only 5.7% of infrastructure needs currently funded, scepticism remained high.
Mail & Guardian
09-06-2025
- General
- Mail & Guardian
New water crisis threatens as invasive plants overrun North West's Vaalkop Dam
A highly invasive weed now covers the entire Vaalkop Dam. (Photos: Centre for Biological Control) These water weeds are now smothering 100% of the Vaalkop Dam — a crucial water source for the Bojanala and Waterberg districts — and it's become a 'desperate situation', according to Martin Frere, a board member of Bushwillow Estate, on the dam. This week, the Vaalkop Dam Alien Vegetation Action Group, which comprises Bushwillow Estate, Finfoot Lodge and Mziki Nature Reserve, warned that the structure is at risk of ecological and economic collapse. Situated about 60km northwest of the polluted Hartbeespoort Dam, Vaalkop is considerably less well-known. Although it is about half the size of Hartbeespoort Dam, it is the primary source of drinking, agricultural, and industrial water for the North West, supplying towns such as Rustenburg, Swartruggens and Thabazimbi, the Sun City resort and the platinum mining belt with potable water. A major distinction is that Hartbeespoort Dam is primarily used for irrigation downstream, Frere noted. In contrast, Vaalkop Dam has a huge water treatment plant, run by Magalies Water. 'Its capacity is 270 million litres a day so the water used from that dam is predominantly potable water … It's a really significant water resource for the province. If Magalies Water had to stop abstraction, the consequences would be devastating,' he said. Despite the dam's importance, authorities have largely ignored its plight, the Vaalkop Dam Alien Vegetation Action Group said. The first little islands of water hyacinth, the world's worst aquatic weed, were first detected in the system in October 2017. The invasion was immediately reported to the then-department of forestry, fisheries and the environment and then to the department of water and sanitation in 2018. According to the action group, the water and sanitation department 'halted a plan to control the invasion chemically'. Despite frequent attempts by local stakeholders to address why this was the case, their queries and communications were 'largely ignored'. The water quality of the Vaalkop Dam has been compromised by poorly treated wastewater from local municipalities, as well as by water fed directly into the dam through the Crocodile River downstream of Hartbeespoort Dam, 'arguably South Africa's most polluted system'. Frere said two natural rivers feed into Vaalkop Dam: the Elands River and the Hex River. The Hex River emanates from the Bospoort Dam in Rustenburg, which is 'renowned for bad water quality' because of the dysfunctional Rustenburg wastewater treatment plant. The other inlet into Vaalkop Dam is a canal from the Roodekoppies Dam, which is fed by the sewage-polluted Hartbeespoort Dam. 'About 70% of the water in Vaalkop comes from that canal so it's really obvious that that is the source of the really bad nutrient situation in Vaalkop Dam. Water hyacinth just loves bad water; it feeds and multiplies at phenomenal rates,' he said. The weed flowers and produces prolific numbers of seeds that can remain viable for about 25 years. In 2020, affected people contacted the While these biocontrol agents — natural enemies of the water hyacinth — were released and although three rearing stations were established, there simply weren't enough stakeholders around the dam to set up enough to supplement what the centre sent. 'We've been dosing the dam for four years but we just haven't been able to hit the same infestation of insects on Vaalkop as was witnessed on Harties,' Frere said. 'Harties had 2 500 bugs per square metre; we've only managed to get it up to 700. It's just from a lack of resources.' In June last year, the CBC surveyed Officials were made aware of the severity of the invasion, which had also reached the Limpopo River that forms the national border with Botswana. In January, Vaalkop Dam's water level stood at a very low 25% but by April, following the late summer rains, it was overflowing. This increase in water, rich in nutrients, allowed both water hyacinth and common salvinia to explode. The amount of aquatic weeds on the system soared from about 100 hectares in January to 1 000 hectares at the end of May. The mat is a mixed carpet of water hyacinth and common salvinia, which blocks out light, preventing oxygen from being produced in the water column. This causes most of the aquatic life in the system to die, turning the dam, which is a birding, fishing and wildlife hotspot, into a 'largely lifeless' body of water. 'We have now found that [common salvinia] in a whole lot of North West systems and one of them is Vaalkop,' said research scientist Julie Coetzee, the deputy director of the CBC. 'It probably came in either from the Harties water or upstream from Bospoort Dam.' Both Bospoort and Vaalkop are between 95% and 100% covered in a mixture of water hyacinth and salvinia. 'It looks like a golf course or a mealie field,' she said. 'It's insane.' Additionally, water quality is compromised, necessitating increased and additional treatment by The Vaalkop Dam Alien Vegetation Action Group is fearful that the amount of organic matter on the dam's surface will drastically increase the total organic carbon in the water. 'The direct result is that Magalies Water will doubtless need to increase its chlorination dosing, which in turn will result in creating increased chlorine disinfection by-products, such as carcinogenic trihalomethanes,' it said. Last year, Magalies Water increased its chlorine dosing levels, thereby creating trihalomethanes. 'This year, the TOC challenge will be much higher.' Coetzee added: 'What they've been doing is adding chlorine and there's only a certain amount of chlorine you can add to water that is meant to be for drinking. Soon, we're not going to be able to do anything with it [Vaalkop's water]. 'We're now trying to get Sun International aware of this huge threat that if Magalies Water can't treat the water any longer because of all these weeds, they are not going to be receiving drinking water.' The plant invasion must be addressed urgently, the action group said. It has had numerous meetings regarding both the poor water quality and the water weed invasion. 'However, these meetings are often not attended by the relevant officials despite invitations extended to them,' Coetzee said. A high-level meeting was held on 24 May at Bushwillow Estate, where the department of water and sanitation, Magalies Water, the CBC and local people committed to working towards an integrated management plan for the system, which will requires extensive funding. The Vaalkop action group noted that in the absence of implementing a management plan, the region risks losing access to potable water, as well as the deterioration of aquatic biodiversity, which supports a premier wildlife haven for the province. Pelham Jones, of the Mziki Nature Reserve, warned that a conservation crisis was unfolding. 'This is a very rich natural area. We have everything from the Cape clawless otter, a very nice population of fish eagles and so many aquatic birds, mammals, and so on and they, in turn, are obviously being negatively affected. 'I don't know what this surface cover will do to the fish population but clearly it will be very detrimental for all of the obvious reasons.' The North West Parks and Tourism Board and Magalies Water had not responded to the Mail & Guardian's inquiries by the time of publication. Wisane Mavasa, spokesperson for the water department, said the Vaalkop Dam receives water from Hartbeespoort Dam through a canal and is downstream of Bospoort Dam. 'All three dams have alien invasive plants. It is suspected that the plants from Bospoort migrated downstream to Vaalkop,' she said. The department, through its implementing agent, Magalies Water and the CBC, is working on Hartbeespoort Dam's infestation and upstream to improve the water quality in the dam. 'Communities around Hartbeespoort Dam also assist in rearing biological controls under the supervision and guidance of the centre. Community members around Vaalkop have initiated similar rearing stations,' said Mavasa. She cited the community meeting on 24 May with Magalies Water and the department, where it was resolved that an integrated plan needs to be developed to address the water quality and infestation on the dams. 'This will also include upstream wastewater works from Rustenburg that are leading to a reduction in water quality,' she said, noting that the draft plan will be tabled to the deputy minister, Sello Seitlholo, within the coming weeks for consideration and discussion with the relevant role players including the water services authorities. Jones, however, was sceptical. 'If, at the time, the department had reacted with proactive interventions, the problem could have been not resolved, but managed at a fraction of the price it's going to now cost to resolve this. It's just unfortunately too little, too late.'
