R130b budget for water and sanitation

The Department of Water and Sanitation has been allocated R134 909 b over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) with the newly appointed minister promising they will continue clearing historic cases of wasteful or irregular expenditure with the help of law enforcement.

Presenting the department’s Budget Vote in Parliament on Friday, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Mojodima said the budget includes allocations of R42 604b, R46 362b and R45 941b in the 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years respectively.

The department’s budget consists of two components: The main account and the water trading entity.

Main account allocations:

R72 989b over the MTEF

• R24 074b (2024/25)
• R25 159b (2025/26)
• R23 754b (2026/27)

R36 305b over the MTEF

• R20 130b Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant
• R16 175b Water Services Infrastructure Grant

Mojodima said the water trading entity is mostly funded through revenue collection from the sale of water but also receives some transfers from the fiscus for infrastructure projects.

The water trading entity has been allocated R61 920b over the MTEF, including R18.530b, R21.202b and R22.187b in 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27 respectively.

The minister said the department will make every effort to ensure that the resources are deployed as efficiently as possible ‘to ensure service delivery reaches our communities’.

The department will also continue to clear all the department’s historic incidents of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in collaboration with National Treasury and law enforcement agencies.

The minister committed the department to zero tolerance for corruption and ensuring the promotion of good governance.

She said the department has managed to successfully reduce its under-expenditure in recent years:

• 2021/22: R2.5b (14.3% of budget)
• 2022/22: R860m (5% of budget)
• 2023/24: R44m (0.2% of budget)

“It is our intention to eradicate under-expenditure and achieve 100% expenditure of our budget in the current financial year. This will be done by making our infrastructure procurement processes more efficient and effective and by improving our management of allocations to projects during the financial year,” Majodima said. – SAnews.gov.za