As the country continues to be gripped by water cuts leading to residents and businesses getting frustrated, Rand Water CEO, Sipho Mosai, has dispelled the notion that the shortage is caused by the bulk supplier.
Mosai stated that South Africa is not facing a bulk water crisis but rather maintenance recovery and other challenges further down the supply chain.
Speaking at the PSG Think Big webinar, Mosai said that various issues are linked to rising pressure on South Africa’s water system, such as ageing infrastructure, illegal connections, and poor municipal governance.
He said that Rand Water had initially exceeded global supply benchmarks, adding that challenges were in fact at municipal distribution level, not with the water utility he is heading.
High water abuse
Mosai also said that the other challenge was based on the high water usage by consumers, pointing out that the country’s daily per capita usage has surged to 290 litres, adding pressure to the system.. He added that the ageing infrastructure and illegal connections were major contributors to water loss at the municipal level.
“We don’t have a bulk water crisis. At the distribution level, we have ageing infrastructure and high-water losses—it’s in the reports. All the maintenance schedules were completed on time. The system takes time to recover, and depending on where you are, it varies. Low lying areas normally receive water faster than high-lying area,” he said.
To address these water challenges, Rand Water has established special purpose vehicles with municipalities to tackle infrastructure failures and non-revenue water, which includes both technical losses and illegal connections.
He said that the bulk water supplier is moving ahead with large-scale capital projects.
Capital injection
“If you look at what we are investing in the next five years, from the bulk point of view, we’re talking R40 billion or so. We’re not going to be simply looking at maintenance; we’re also looking at building new infrastructure to meet future demands,” said Mosai.
Mosai said that by the end of the 2025 financial year, Rand Water is expected to have added 600 million litres of water into the system.
“Last year, we added about 150 million litres of water into the system. We’re going to be adding an additional 450 million litres. We are already strategising about meeting the demands of 2031 in terms of the bulk water provision into the system. And for those that invest in Rand Water, we’re still maintaining gross profit and net profit margins,” he said.
