Limpopo DA slams water losses by uncaring municipalities

The Limpopo Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding a turnaround strategy from the provincial government after Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu painted a grim picture for municipalities in the province, which lost millions of rands in poor water management in the last financial year.

In a consolidated report on the local government audit outcomes for 2018-2019, released on Wednesday, Makwetu expressed concern about water shortages in Limpopo.

He noted that poor management of water distribution had resulted in significant water losses due to leakages; deteriorating infrastructure; unauthorised consumption due to rerouting of water from the water stream; illegal tampering of water meters; and inadequate systems to verify water purchased.

Makwetu said the province had reported water losses amounting to R341 million during the year under review – an increase of R114 million from the previous year.

DA Limpopo provincial leader and member of the legislature, Jacques Smalle, said in a statement: “This represents a substantial amount of revenue lost by municipalities.

“But more importantly, this water could have been distributed to the 26.3% of people living in Limpopo who are not receiving water from a regional or local service provider.”

Smalle said Makwetu attributed the escalation of water losses to leadership’s lack of concern, or inadequate action, to address the basic right to access to water due to poor management of water distribution, despite national grants provided to restore and upgrade water infrastructure.

Limpopo has 27 local and five district municipalities. The districts, which are all water service authorities, are Vhembe, Sekhukhune, Capricorn, Mopani and Waterberg.

In Makwetu’s report, Vhembe recorded water losses of R204 million. Mopani recorded water distribution losses of R41 million.

Vhembe and Mopani were also found to be the biggest culprits, owing water boards R930 000 and R830 000, respectively.

Smalle said the waste of money emanating from water losses had a direct impact on the municipalities’ ability to render basic services to the citizens. He said it was unacceptable that the lack of political will to address such losses affected the quality of lives, especially the vulnerable.

During a standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) briefing in Limpopo this week, Makwetu said only 8% of the Limpopo’s 27 municipalities were in financial good health, while 79% of them were in a worrying state.

The auditor-general told Scopa that 13% of municipalities in Limpopo required urgent financial intervention.

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