The enormous debt of R10 billion owed by five Free State municipalities to the bulk water supplier Vaal Central is threatening water security in the province.
Vaal Central indicated during a meeting of the Free State Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) that the mounting debt of struggling municipalities will cause it to run into serious cash-flow problems in the near future.
The enormous amount of debt was caused by the merger of Bloem Water and Sedibeng Water in 2022, mainly due to the fact that Sedibeng was insolvent.
The Matjhabeng Municipality currently owes the water board R6,9 billion. At the time of the merger in 2022, it owed R4,8 billion. So, the Municipality’s debt surged with R2,1 billion within just two years.
As a result of the Kopanong Municipality’s financial crisis, it owes the water board R768 million and residents’ water supply is already being restricted to 30%.
The Mangaung Metro and the Nala and Mantsopa Municipalities owe the water board R921 million, R404 million and R3,7 million, respectively.
Supplying water to these municipalities will become increasingly challenging.
The FF Plus warned from the start that the merger would not solve the water boards’ debt problems.
And even though the new Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, met with the relevant stakeholders in August, it is clear that there is no viable plan to resolve the crisis.
The reality is that government owes itself money.
A drastic intervention is needed to address Matjhabeng, Nala and Kopanong’s outstanding debt seeing as these municipalities’ non-payment jeopardises water supply to other municipalities.
The FF Plus will use questions to the Minister to pressure her to indicate what she plans to do to ensure that water availability is sustainable in these municipalities.
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