The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation has welcomed the impact of withholding municipalities’ equitable share, with many municipalities now beginning to pay water boards for services received. The committee held an engagement with the National Treasury, the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to discuss the matter.
The meeting followed various concerns the committee has had over the ballooning debt municipalities owe to water boards. The committee has previously recommended that the National Treasury should consider top slicing the equitable share. “It is for the first time that we see that all departments are acting in unison and acting collaboratively. We want clean governance; we want our municipalities to work. We know Treasury wants to give them money to work, but municipalities must do what they need to do and pay the water boards, Eskom and SARS. The bottom line is if you don’t push to get payment for services from municipalities, then chances of getting it are slim; that is what we as a committee are doing,” said Mr Leon Basson, the Chairperson of the committee.
The committee maintains that the current municipal debt to water boards, amounting to R24.58 billion (R21.91 billion, excluding interest), is unsustainable and poses a threat to the entire water value chain.
The committee welcomed early indications of the intervention’s success, noting improved payment patterns by some municipalities. For example, Sekhukhune District Municipality paid R30,5 million towards its arrears against its current invoices. Govan Mbeki Local Municipality paid R70 million towards its current invoices, and Rand West City Local Municipality has paid R72 million. The payment followed the National Treasury withholding equitable share allocations from 34 defaulting municipalities in December 2024, March 2025 and July 2025.
As a result of withholding of the equitable share, the committee was informed that municipalities made payments totaling R278 million between 7 July and 25 August 2025. This emphasises the correctness of the intervention, in the committee’s view.
Despite these payments, National Treasury emphasised that the intervention of withholding equitable share is temporary and long-term solutions are needed to ensure that municipalities pay for services received. Committee member Mr Visvin Reddy agreed with National Treasury and called for greater accountability against municipalities from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
“We must move towards holding municipal managers accountable for non-payment of services. We are showing more empathy to our residents, by trying to see how we can intervene. But the reality is that this is not the function of the Department of Water and Sanitation but the function of COGTA. COGTA must ensure that they intervene; they are empowered by the Constitution to intervene as per Section 139 of the Constitution. The fault of the water crisis lies with municipalities,” Mr Reddy emphasised. He further called for COGTA to present monthly reports on the payment of debt to water boards to ensure the viability of the water value chain.
Malatswa Molepo
16 September 2025
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