Dry taps, empty coffers: Joburg Water owes contractors R500m

Johannesburg Water owes an estimated R500m to contractors, which experts say is directly due to revenue from ratepayers being diverted to fund other parts of the municipality, such as salaries.

For some contractors and workers, the consequences have been devastating.

Selina Nkuna is part of a team involved in a Johannesburg Water project to upgrade the sewerage system at the Helen Joseph Women’s Hostel in Alexandra. The project began on November 3 last year, with Maletebogo Enterprises appointed as the implementing contractor and Zwane Crown and GB Kganya as subcontractors.

Workers were paid monthly, but payments began stalling earlier this year. They have received nothing since June. Nkuna and her frustrated colleagues eventually marched on Joburg Water last week, demanding answers. Instead, she said, the gates were locked and police were called.

“Joburg Water was so arrogant. How can you lock the gates when people are crying?” she said.

The protesters told of threatened evictions, car repossessions, children being kicked out of crèches and families going without food.

It appears that the City of Joburg swept the Joburg Water account just before the ring-fencing, which is quite cheeky—  Ferrial Adam, WaterCAN

Nkuna said Joburg Water CFO Kgaugelo Mahlaba eventually told protesters that 269 contractors had not been paid because the utility’s grant money had been frozen.

“It’s terrible. We’re extremely unhappy. We all owe money we can’t pay back. How can they give out tenders and not pay us?” Nkuna said.

This week the city declined to give a figure for how much it owes contractors, saying only that it was aware of outstanding payments to “suppliers across the entity”.

But Ferrial Adam of WaterCAN, a civil society organisation focused on water quality and accountability, said the latest information she had been given was that ongoing efforts had led to the total debt being reduced from R640m to R500m, and the number of contractors impacted reduced from 200 to 120 as of Thursday.

(Nolo M) “Joburg Water’s account was emptied out by the City of Joburg on June 30,” she said. “The issue at hand is that the money was supposedly ring-fenced, but we do not have the details. It appears that the City of Joburg swept the Joburg Water account just before the ring-fencing, which is quite cheeky.”

This is detailed in a progress report to the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group (PJWG) — the intergovernmental intervention team established by President Cyril Ramaphosa to address major service delivery and governance issues in the city.

According to the report, the city diverted R3.4bn out of Joburg Water, leaving it unable to pay creditors.

There are people inside Joburg Water who know what needs to be done and are working incredibly hard to do it—  Ingrid Bester, Water Crisis Committee

Ring-fencing — part of a turnaround strategy at the metro — came into effect in July, but the ring-fenced money was only transferred back to Joburg Water on July 9.

Meanwhile, the city has spent hundreds of millions of rands on emergency water tankers — an expensive short-term solution to a deepening infrastructure crisis that has left residents locked in a repeated cycle of water outages, leaks and broken infrastructure.

“There are people inside Joburg Water who know what needs to be done and are working incredibly hard to do it,” said Ingrid Bester of the Water Crisis Committee community action group.

“The concern from a resident perspective is whether they are being given the financial and operational support they need to actually implement those plans quickly enough to reverse the decline, improve reliability and restore public confidence.”

A report released this month by the Centre for Development and Enterprise warns that Johannesburg’s failing utilities threaten a wider urban collapse. Joburg Water has an infrastructure backlog of R26.6bn, while some suburbs have gone without water for more than 20% of the year. The report cites:

The auditor-general’s 2024/25 consolidated report also flagged “weak performance reporting and unreliable system-generated information”, saying Joburg Water failed to “proactively maintain” its infrastructure.

It’s getting worse and very concerning. Joburg Water has a good, manageable plan. But without the money we are watching the total destruction of our water and sanitation systems—  Ferrial Adam

Adam, who attended a Joburg Water working group meeting this week, said officials presented a detailed account of the problems. But she was unimpressed.

“What is the point of showing us all of this?” she said. “We know that there are about 40-plus reservoirs that need repairs, but if there is no money for it, then what was the purpose of the presentation?”

Adam was particularly frustrated that the meeting did not address failures in the Commando system — a critical network of water infrastructure managed by Joburg Water — which saw some residents reportedly being without water for about 12 days.

“It’s getting worse and very concerning. Joburg Water has a good, manageable plan. But without the money we are watching the total destruction of our water and sanitation systems.”

Bester agreed. “If the people doing the work know what needs to be done but don’t have the money or resources to do it, then we need to understand why. Where is the money going? What is being prioritised and who is ultimately responsible?”

Responding to questions from the Sunday Times, Joburg Water said it was “working closely with the city to address the matter”.

“As funds are received from the city, payments to service providers are processed in accordance with established financial governance processes.”

The utility said it could not provide service-provider-specific payment timelines.