Joburg watches R10-billion flow down the drain
Auditor-General publishes scathing report on City’s water management
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Johannesburg has been plagued by neighbourhoods running out of water and the municipality having to deploy water tankers. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee
Johannesburg has lost R10.3-billion worth of drinking water in four years, placing the metro’s finances and residents at risk.
This was revealed in the Auditor-General’s Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes for 2024/25, published on Wednesday.
The Auditor-General (AG) raised concerns about infrastructure maintenance, distribution losses, and the reliability of performance reporting.
The AG noted Johannesburg Water’s “failure to proactively maintain its water infrastructure”. Maintenance is often deferred until assets fail, resulting in a culture of reactive, emergency repairs rather than prevention. The AG said this has led to frequent pipe bursts and a deterioration of network reliability.
The AG said this has led to frequent pipe bursts and a deterioration of network reliability.The AG blamed inadequate planning, poor execution of maintenance plans, and insufficient oversight by leadership.
This has translated into the City consistently missing its water management targets. The metro’s water losses have remained above the 30% norm for the past four years, with recent levels consistently reaching over 45%.
The AG said these losses are driven by ageing infrastructure and a high number of leakages caused by a lack of maintenance.
Due to the severe financial and service delivery consequences of neglected infrastructure, the AG notified the accounting officer of a material irregularity in December 2024.
The AG said that Johannesburg Water’s performance reporting is weak. It hindered oversight and made it difficult to verify service delivery achievements.
Johannesburg Water was contacted for comment, but no response was received by the time of publication. The utility previously said it is implementing a ten-year, R64-billion strategy focused on leak detection, pressure management, pipeline upgrades, reservoir repairs and reducing illegal connections.
WaterCAN head Dr Ferrial Adam said: “This cannot continue, where we lose so much water and nobody is held accountable … With that money. We could have fixed our water system by now.”
She criticised efforts to focus enforcement on informal settlements, arguing that authorities should instead prioritise recovering revenue from major consumers and large debtors.
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