state-owned water company
What could possibly go wrong when a state-owned water company comes online in 2025, according to the new Minister. Image: File/Fotor

Following years of worsening water infrastructure, a state-owned water company could come online as early as 2025, reports Business Tech. Although, experts are skeptical about its effectiveness, in light of the poor track record of traditionally corrupt SOEs in South Africa like Eskom and Transnet.

Earlier this year, in March 2024, a bill to form the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) was passed in Parliament. The goals thereof are to see sweeping reforms in the sector, attract private investment, enforce accountability for non-performance, and remedy outages and poor water quality.

 
Moreover, the main mandates of the state-owned NWRIA will be to:

Implement water resource management infrastructure.
Manage national water resources.
Generate and collect revenue from the sale of water as its primary source of income.
Raise commercial funding for commercially viable projects.South Africa’s water infrastructure is a relic from the apartheid era. Image: File
According to department reports, there are widespread challenges facing South Africa’s water infrastructure:

46% of drinking water fails microbiological standards.
67.6% of wastewater treatment of sewage is inadequate.
40.8% of water is being lost due to system leaks.
However, as government transitions into its seventh administration and new Minister and former ANC Chief Whip, Pemmy Majodina, takes over control, there is renewed uncertainty over the viability of a state-owned water company. Speaking in parliament for the first time, Majodina said there are currently R135-billion worth of national water resource infrastructure projects on going. These are largely funded by financial markets, banks, pension funds and development finance institutions, based on guarantees from the National Treasury.