Staff Reporter
The Water Community Action Network (CAN) said on Wednesday that it was “alarmed” by a report that municipalities returned R1 billion in unspent Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant funding to National Treasury over the past five years.
According to a report in Business Day, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed in response to a parliamentary question that municipalities had returned the money.
The grant is meant to develop, refurbish, upgrade and replace ageing bulk water and sanitation infrastructure.
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“South Africans are repeatedly told there is not enough money to fix water and sanitation infrastructure. Yet here we have R1 billion that could not be spent by municipalities while communities are living through a water and sanitation crisis. That is not just poor administration. It is a betrayal,” said WaterCAN Executive Manager, Dr Ferrial Adam.
“This money was meant to reach pipes, pumps, reservoirs, wastewater treatment works and communities. Instead, it went back to Treasury. In a country where rivers are being poisoned by sewage and households cannot trust what comes out of their taps, returning water infrastructure money is indefensible.”
WaterCAN said the crisis was visible in municipalities and communities where it was active.
In eThekwini, the organisation and its partners have repeatedly warned that failing wastewater systems are polluting rivers and contributing to beach closures.
In Johannesburg, WaterCAN has laid criminal charges over pollution in the Klip River system and continues to campaign against dry taps, sewage spills, and water mismanagement. Residents have endured prolonged water interruptions as the city’s infrastructure crisis deepens.
In Bekkersdal and Rand West, WaterCAN has supported communities facing years of neglect, sewage spills, and unsafe water, where residents often feel abandoned by the municipalities meant to protect them.
In the Free State, the organisation said it had stood with water activists facing long periods without water or with contaminated water, including in Marakong Village in QwaQwa, where bloodworms were found in tap water.
WaterCAN said its national citizen science work had also identified unsafe drinking-water samples in several other municipalities, including King Cetshwayo, Gert Sibande, Waterberg, Bojanala Platinum, and Pixley ka Seme.
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“These are not abstract numbers on a Treasury spreadsheet,” said Adam. “Every rand returned represents delayed repairs, failed projects, untreated sewage, unsafe water, and communities left to carry the health and financial burden of municipal failure.”
WaterCAN said it was particularly alarming that the largest returned amounts were reported from provinces already facing serious water and sanitation challenges, including North West, Eastern Cape and the Free State.
“Municipalities cannot keep blaming ageing infrastructure while failing to spend the money allocated to fix that infrastructure,” said Adam. “The public deserves to know which municipalities returned funds, which projects failed, who was responsible, and what consequences followed.”
The organisation called for urgent action from National Treasury, the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Parliament and affected municipalities.
It said it wanted the full list of municipalities that returned Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant funds to be made public, including the amounts returned, the projects affected, the reasons for underspending, and the officials responsible for implementation failures.
WaterCAN also called for monthly public reporting on water and sanitation infrastructure grants, including project milestones, spending progress, delays, contractor performance, and corrective action.
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“Transparency must become non-negotiable,” said Adam.
“Communities cannot be expected to live with failing water systems while grant performance is hidden in reports and parliamentary replies. Residents have a right to know whether money meant for their water infrastructure is being spent, delayed, mismanaged or returned.”
WaterCAN said consequence management must move beyond statements.
“This crisis demands urgency. South Africa does not have the luxury of another five years of returned grants, broken pipes, and poisoned rivers,” said Adam.
