{"id":97336,"date":"2026-04-15T14:41:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:18:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:18:02","slug":"government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services","title":{"rendered":"Government Expects Payment for Unprovided Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Businesses and citizens resisting payment for services like water, where the supply of those services is unreliable or of poor quality, is a predictable response to South Africa\u2019s broken service delivery system.<\/p>\n

In addition, expecting continued payment for dysfunctional services undermines trust and weakens the government\u2019s revenue base, which is needed to upgrade and maintain service delivery systems.<\/p>\n

This is according to Investec Corporate and Investment Banking\u2019s head of infrastructure, Bukiwe Pantshi, who explained that South Africa\u2019s water crisis is no longer a distant policy concern.<\/p>\n

Instead, she said the crisis has become an \u201cintensely personal and economic issue, shaping how households live and how companies operate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pantshi pointed out that, in Gauteng alone, Rand Water revealed that 2.5 billion litres of the 5.2 billion it provides to municipalities in the province every day is lost through leaks, ageing infrastructure and theft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis structural collapse impacts every sector of society and the broader economy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt undermines productivity, increases compliance challenges and drives up costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pantshi attributed this, in part, to a lack of accountability for municipalities that are failing in their constitutional duty to provide basic services.<\/p>\n

The solution to this, she said, is collaboration between the government, businesses, and South African citizens.<\/p>\n

However, this collaboration cannot happen until the right accountability measures are put in place. Without accountability, she said, South Africa risks perpetuating failure rather than resolving it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater service delivery is fundamentally a value exchange \u2013 the government provides a service, and citizens and businesses pay for it,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen supply is unreliable or poor in quality, resistance to payment is not a moral failing but a predictable response to a broken system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExpecting continued payment for dysfunctional services undermines trust and weakens the revenue base needed to finance maintenance and upgrades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shrinking tax base<\/b><\/p>\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa and SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter<\/p>\n

While South Africa has yet to see a full-scale, widespread tax revolt linked to the ongoing water crisis, experts have warned that this situation is untenable.<\/p>\n

This comes as the government is already facing a shrinking and very narrow tax base, where the top 13% of individual taxpayers pay over 60% of personal income tax.<\/p>\n

In addition, nearly half of personal income tax is paid by the 7.7% of taxpayers with taxable income above R1 million per year.<\/p>\n

Tax Consulting South Africa warned earlier this year that South Africa\u2019s shrinking taxpayer base could force the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the National Treasury to take drastic measures.<\/p>\n

This could include increased enforcement, raising taxes, or new measures like a wealth tax, placing greater pressure on remaining taxpayers and businesses.<\/p>\n

SARS has already been clamping down on South African taxpayers as pressure to increase revenue from a shrinking tax base has intensified.<\/p>\n

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter recently announced that the taxman collected a record R2.01 trillion in tax revenue in the last financial year, the most in South Africa\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The largest source of this revenue was Pay As You Earn (PAYE), with collections totalling R767 billion in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n

SARS explained that PAYE collections benefited from modest nominal wage growth combined with fiscal drag, despite low employment growth.<\/p>\n

In the 2026 Budget, the National Treasury acknowledged the serious burden placed on a small number of taxpayers in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth personal and corporate income tax contributions to total tax revenue are higher in South Africa than the average across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa has become heavily reliant on these two direct taxes, which accounted for approximately 55% of total tax revenue in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, this burden is not limited to personal and corporate income tax, with the Treasury also estimating that individuals in the top four income deciles account for over 75% of value-added tax revenue, even though this is a broad-based tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese factors illustrate the importance of managing the tax burden to ensure it remains sustainable and efficient,\u201d the Treasury said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh direct taxes erode disposable income and consumption expenditure and may incentivise stronger avoidance measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond a certain point, increases in tax rates may not generate additional revenue and are detrimental to economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Treasury said that, ultimately, the best solution is to increase revenue by broadening the tax base and growing the economy.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s tax burden compared to other OECD countries and the OECD average is shown in the graph below.<\/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. Businesses and citizens resisting payment for services like water, where the supply of those services is unreliable or of poor quality, is a predictable response to South Africa\u2019s broken service delivery system. In addition, expecting continued payment for dysfunctional services undermines trust and weakens the government\u2019s revenue base, which is needed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":97335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-97336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment Expects Payment for Unprovided Services - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Businesses and citizens resisting payment for services like water, where the supply of those services is unreliable or o ...\" \/>\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\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government Expects Payment for Unprovided Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Businesses and citizens resisting payment for services like water, where the supply of those services is unreliable or o ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services\" \/>\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=\"2026-04-15T14:41:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T15:18:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1776253659.540509.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\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=\"4 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\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Government Expects Payment for Unprovided Services\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-15T14:41:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T15:18:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services\"},\"wordCount\":748,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1776253659.540509.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-expects-payment-for-unprovided-services\",\"name\":\"Government Expects Payment for Unprovided Services - 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