{"id":89935,"date":"2025-09-16T10:09:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:18:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:18:50","slug":"taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers’ money has been paid to contractors for water infrastructure projects that remain unfinished, leaving many communities without clean and reliable water.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC\u2019s NEC meeting in Boksburg on Saturday, Majodina revealed that syndicates dubbed \u201cwater mafias\u201d are exploiting the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water mafias are beyond a count in the North West, wherein people go there, the extortionists they demand A, B and C and they stop the project. So we are also working with the South African Police Service in ensuring that we deal with water mafias,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Majodina said projects dating back to 2016 remain incomplete, particularly in North West despite municipalities receiving funds through national infrastructure grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn North West we launched Operation Bulela Metsi and we identified the 10 most critical municipalities that were not getting water and we funded North West on the original bulk water services infrastructure grant. When we do that, we transfer money to municipalities to appoint contractors to augment the infrastructure that they have,\u201d said Majodina.<\/p>\n

However, many of those projects never materialised.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must say to you, since 2016 to date, there are projects that are incomplete and they are incomplete because they are on schedule 5 wherein it is municipalities that appoint contractors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Majodina said her department has now intervened to take back those funds and directly appoint implementing agents to finish the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that as we do that, the cost has escalated. If we have budgeted R13m for that water treatment plant now the water treatment plant is R24m,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Johannesburg and other metros continue to battle widespread water outages caused by burst pipes, ageing infrastructure and rising demand. Johannesburg residents recently endured multi-day outages without prior warning or the provision of water tankers, sparking a public outrage.<\/p>\n

Majodina said municipalities must urgently address leaks, which prevent reservoirs from being filled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what is happening here in Johannesburg. Their reservoirs are less than the demand in terms of water supply. They are unable to fill up those reservoirs because the demand is too much, but also the water leaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agreed in March that by the end of September, we are going to collect reports from all municipalities that are part of the national Indaba on water to say, ‘how far did you go?’ There are about seven municipalities that have already closed their leaks. And they are saying, ‘now we are able to fill up our reservoirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister added that poor communication from municipalities worsens frustrations during outages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is lacking in municipalities is communication. When they do maintenance or they pipe burst, they don’t respond quickly. That is why through Rand Water we have embarked on major maintenance on all big water pipelines that supply Gauteng especially the metros Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Johannesburg up to North West.\u201d<\/p>\n

Majodina said the department is also exploring groundwater as a quicker way of bringing relief to water-starved communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe third one that we are doing in North West is to explore groundwater. So we want to get groundwater because with groundwater you are able to drill the boreholes and people get water now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, water protests have been erupting in several parts of the country as communities demand urgent solutions to what has become one of South Africa\u2019s most pressing service delivery crises.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers’ money has been paid to contractors for water infrastructure projects that remain unfinished, leaving many communities without clean and reliable water. Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC\u2019s NEC meeting in Boksburg on Saturday, Majodina revealed that syndicates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":89934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-89935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nTaxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers' money has been paid to ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers' money has been paid to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T10:09:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T10:18:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T10:09:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-16T10:18:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects\"},\"wordCount\":590,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects\",\"name\":\"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T10:09:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-16T10:18:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers' money has been paid to ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects - South Africa","description":"Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers' money has been paid to ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects","og_description":"Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers' money has been paid to ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-09-16T10:09:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-16T10:18:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":666,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects","datePublished":"2025-09-16T10:09:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-16T10:18:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects"},"wordCount":590,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg","keywords":["South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects","name":"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-16T10:09:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-16T10:18:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina has confirmed that millions of rand in taxpayers' money has been paid to ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1758005197.835702.jpg","width":1000,"height":666,"caption":"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/taxpayer-money-wasted-on-incomplete-water-projects#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Taxpayer Money Wasted on Incomplete Water Projects"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}