Information from the Emfuleni municipality states that an average of 1.3 million kilolitres of clean water was lost due to leaks every month
The scale of water wastage within the Emfuleni municipality has been quantified in both litres and rands.
The information was provided by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and signed off by Emfuleni acting municipal manager Mothiba Mogofe.
Combined with existing figures on water and sewer infrastructure expenditure, Emfuleni has misused more than R1.4 billion in the last six years and during this time recorded millions of wasted litres.
The municipality’s September report showed that 16.4 million kilolitres – 16.4 billion litres — was lost due to leaks in the last financial year.
The value of the clean water lost could have been converted into revenue to the tune of R880.8 million.
‘Scandalous’
The budget allocated for water-related work that year was R60 million and this went toward water tankers, equipment, materials, pipe replacements and labour.
The municipal manager confirmed that R57.7 million was spent on the contractors who were on duty on a revolving basis.
“The municipality has a panel of 16 contractors appointed on an as-and-when basis, and they are alternated,” stated Mogofe’s report.
The DA has suggested that mismanagement or corruption is to blame for the large amounts of money being spent.
“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,” stated DA Emfuleni North constituency head Kingsol Chabalala.
He added that the “crisis was exacerbated” by the municipality having returned R636 million in municipal infrastructure grants and paid R561 million in overtime over the last five financial years.
“[This occurred] without any improvement in service delivery, which strongly indicates mismanagement, financial recklessness, or deeply entrenched corruption,” suggested Chabalala.
New infrastructure monitoring
Earlier this year, expenditure related to sewerage projects in the same five period was also revealed.
Between 2019 and 2024, Emfuleni municipality spent R202.6 million on sewer-related services provided by 71 contractors.
Several parties asked Cogta to intervene and as of March, 17 Emfuleni officials had been suspended, including a senior manager accused of selling fake permits to foreign spaza shop owners.
Cogta have also been on a path of intended renewal, having launched the Infrastructure Delivery Platform (IDEP) and Project Readiness Matrix (PRM) this year.
These are interactive management platforms designed to give department officials real-time progress updates on infrastructure projects.
“If we don’t deliver these productive assets to the people, we will not improve their quality of life and we will not grow the economy,” stated Cogta MEC Jacob Mamabolo.
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