Parliament, Friday, 21 March 2025 – The Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Public Administration (Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation) has urged the Kopanong Local Municipality to urgently develop a plan responding to the South African Human Rights Commission’s findings and recommendations relating to access to water and sanitation in the area. The committee finds it unacceptable that the municipality has not provided the SAHRC with a clear plan of action. This impedes its ability to implement corrective measures relating to the SAHRC’s findings that the municipality is failing to provide adequate water and sanitation services.
The committee noted that the municipality is having continuous engagements with the Vaal Central Water Board to address the almost R900 million debt the municipality owes to the water board. The committee remains steadfast in the belief that the payment for services is critical for the functioning of the entire water value chain and the inability of the municipality to pay will continue to prohibit its ability to provide water to its residents.
Currently, Vaal Central Water Board has reduced water provision to the municipality to just 30% which affects mainly high-lying areas, as the pressure is inadequate to reach those areas. “It is important that those interactions with the water board provide solutions to enable provision of water, which is a constitutional requirement,” said Mr Mxolisi Kaunda, the Chairperson of the committee.
The committee also urged the municipality to improve its revenue collection strategy, as currently it is collecting about 20% of what is owed for services rendered. While this challenge with collection is a national phenomenon and might be addressed by the review of the funding model to municipalities announced by the President, it is imperative that municipalities find solutions to current challenges. One of the strategies that the municipality must implement is a review of its indigent register to ensure that it knows who can afford to pay for services. Also, the municipality must improve its billing system to encourage payment for services.
Furthermore, the committee welcomed the ongoing engagements with residents and the association they pay rates to, as a means to ensure that those rates and taxes are paid to the municipality to improve service delivery. The committee also welcomed the assurance that the municipality is now paying its employees their salary on time and as expected. The committee said this is important as it will ensure workers are available to deliver quality services.
The committee also highlighted the need for the municipality to urgently deal with its unacceptably high unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure to ensure that the municipality’s cash flow is stabilised. The committee welcomed the information that the Mayor and the Speaker have foregone some of their benefits, as a cost-cutting measure, and encouraged the municipality to follow their example.
Furthermore, the committee encouraged the municipality to complete the process to access its organisational structure to ensure that it has an adequately skilled labour force to serve the people of the municipality and remove any ghost workers.
Following the visit to the municipality, the committee will in due course reflect on the impact of the Section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution, which was invoked on 17 May 2023.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, MR MXOLISI KAUNDA.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Malatswa Molepo (Mr)
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8438
Cell: 081 512 7920
E-mail: mmolepo@parliament.gov.za
Arrange a tour