- DA calls for councils to ring-fence water and sanitation funds
- Billions are being lost to leaks and failing infrastructure
- Dry taps persist despite enough raw water supply
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on municipal councils across Gauteng, and every water-stressed municipality in South Africa, to urgently adopt council resolutions to ring-fence water and sanitation revenue, following revelations that about R5 billion a year is being lost in Gauteng metros while infrastructure upgrades stall and taps run dry.
A Sunday Times investigation has exposed how financial mismanagement and diverted funding are blocking critical repairs, with Johannesburg and Tshwane recording massive losses linked to leaks, ageing infrastructure and delayed maintenance. In Johannesburg alone, reported losses over the last eight months stand at R2.4 billion, while Tshwane is reported to be losing about R1.9 billion a year.
The same reports also lift the lid on the financial collapse behind the crisis: Johannesburg Water reportedly owes R265 million to contractors and R377 million to Rand Water, while the cost to fix 43 structurally leaking reservoirs is estimated at more than R1.3 billion. Rand Water is also reported to be demanding a deposit of more than R2 billion to secure future payments.
Despite dams having enough water, residents are still opening dry taps. The problem is not a lack of raw water, but failing municipal distribution and the stripping away of the very funding needed to repair it.
The DA notes that national government has now approved temporary additional abstraction by Rand Water from February to June 2026 to help municipal reservoirs recover. This is a necessary short-term stabiliser, and the DA has consistently pushed for urgent national action to protect residents. But it does not fix what municipalities have broken, and it will not prevent the next crisis unless municipal governance and finances change.
Water income and funding must stop being diverted to vanity projects, corruption, and unrelated operating shortfalls. The DA believes the most immediate action available is through municipal councils themselves. Councils are empowered to determine how budgets are allocated, and they must now use that power to:
- Ring-fence all water and sanitation revenue;
- Reinvest those funds into fixing leaking pipes, reservoirs and pump stations, and proven water demand management interventions;
- Publish transparent monthly public reporting on water losses, repairs, contractor backlogs, and water-related spending.
Without ring-fenced budgets, promised infrastructure projects remain “just on paper”. This confirms what communities already experience daily: millions of litres of clean drinking water leaking into the ground because maintenance budgets are not protected, and repair programmes cannot be sustained.
Without reliable water supply, schools and clinics cannot function properly, businesses struggle to operate, and communities face serious health risks.
In DA-run governments, putting infrastructure first has delivered more consistent water supply and better maintenance outcomes. We are fighting to see these solutions implemented everywhere, but councils must act now.
South Africans deserve clean drinking water when they open their taps. Ring-fencing water budgets is the first practical step municipalities can take immediately to make that a reality, and to ensure emergency stabilisation measures are not wasted by permanent municipal failure.