Shayne Welman of Three Rivers writes:

Emfuleni’s collapse from vibrant industrial  hub to constitutional disgrace is set to worsen with the installation of predatory smart water meters. Sold as “modernisation” through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with Rand Water, this scheme is a political tool to deprive opposition wards while enriching connected contractors.
The municipality has been subject to repeated failed interventions since 2018, crippled by tens of billions of rand in unpaid debts, audit disclaimers, and entrenched corruption.
The SPV is being marketed as a fix — Rand Water takes over bulk infrastructure while Emfuleni gets a stake in a new utility. In reality, it’s a channel for cadre profiteering, forcing residents to rely on expensive vending machines for their basic water needs.
The Constitutional Court in Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg (2009) made it clear that prepaid meters are lawful only under reasonable conditions. Emfuleni’s previous public-private partnership with BFX-OLE ended in a record R492m default judgment against the municipality.
Promised as revenue solutions for highpaying wards, these meters became costly failures.
Now, under the SPV banner, the municipality packages its failures, sewage spills, returned infrastructure grants (R636m unspent), and crumbling systems, as a rationale for revenue control.
This is not reform; it’s privatisation of failure. Vulnerable residents are paying in the only currency Emfuleni still generates: disruption, indignity, and denial of water rights.
We must act now. Opposition leaders, public interest groups, businesses, and civic bodies should demand:
*Immediate suspension of smart/prepaid water meter roll-outs.
*A full audit of the SPV’s contracts, costs, and procurement.
*Televised public hearings in all 45 wards before any infringement on water rights.
*Criminal and civil accountability for officials who placed vendor profits above residents’ access to water.
Emfuleni under ANC rule is a warning: when constitutional rights are replaced with vending kiosks, when SPVs replace service delivery, and when governance becomes extortion, the state has failed.
Smart meters here are not progress, they are the final insult in a slow death of service delivery. Vendors and speculators will be judged harshly in the court of public opinion.