JOHANNESBURG — Civil society organization WaterCAN is demanding urgent accountability from the City of Johannesburg regarding a mounting R6 billion debt owed to Joburg Water. According to Dr. Ferrial Adam, a spokesperson for WaterCAN, the metro’s continued practice of sweeping funds from the water utility’s accounts is severely crippling critical operations and infrastructure maintenance across the city.
The controversy centers on the city’s financial management of its semi-autonomous entities, which include Joburg Water, Joburg Roads, City Power, and Pikitup. While National Treasury previously granted the city permission to sweep money from these entities into a central account to accumulate interest, the agreement stipulated that the funds must be returned within 24 hours.
Dr. Adam revealed that this condition has been systematically violated. Over the past two financial years, the city withdrew R4 billion from Joburg Water and failed to return it. That outstanding debt has now escalated to R6 billion, with no tangible evidence that the funds will be repaid. Although the city announced that the water and sanitation budget would be ring-fenced starting July 1, WaterCAN notes that the measure was rendered meaningless because the accounts had already been drained to zero.
The financial shortfall has had an immediate and severe impact on daily operations. Joburg Water is now struggling to fund basic services, ranging from deploying water tankers to informal settlements to maintaining telecommunications at local depots. Without functional communication systems, head offices cannot dispatch repair teams, halting both routine maintenance and larger capital projects.
Infrastructure backlogs are worsening as a direct result of the funding crisis. Contractors have repeatedly downed tools due to non-payment, accumulating an estimated 1,400 days of project downtime and driving up long-term costs. A prime example is the Hurst Hill 2 reservoir project, which began early this year and was slated for completion by December. The project is currently only 20 percent complete and is now expected to spill into next year. This delay critically undermines efforts to stabilize water supply in the Commando system, which services Emmarentia, Melville, Parktown West, and parts of Mayfair—areas that have recently experienced severe water outages.
The issue has also drawn national attention. The deputy director-general of the Department of Water and Sanitation recently cautioned that water revenue is increasingly being treated as a “cash cow” to subsidize other municipal services. Dr. Adam pointed out that this reflects a deeper, systemic flaw in municipal finance structures. For decades, municipalities have cross-subsidized other departments using water, sanitation, electricity, and rates revenue. However, years of infrastructure neglect mean that utilities now require massive investments for repairs—funds they no longer have access to.
WaterCAN is also challenging the validity of recent municipal audits. The organization argues that auditors previously gave the city a “green light” simply because the debt was recorded on the city’s books as an amount owed. WaterCAN contends that this is insufficient, demanding transparency on exactly where the missing billions were spent and how they were allocated.
While Dr. Adam expressed little hope that the R6 billion will be voluntarily returned, she emphasized that WaterCAN will maintain relentless pressure on the city. The organization is formally requesting that the Water Commission (WaterCom) intervene, urging the body to demonstrate the political will necessary to uncover the truth and restore accountability for the sake of the public.