Water should be supplied through pipes, not trucks — Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says there is no dignity if people are forced to stand in the street waiting for trucks to deliver water.

Speaking at the Water and Sanitation Indaba at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Thursday, Ramaphosa said water should be supplied through pipes, not trucks. He said there are some dodgy “business schemes” where people profit from others' misery.

“There are people who make it their business to go and cut water lines to create businesses for themselves. That is the criminality that has now entered the water space. This is what we must collectively talk about and find ways of bringing it to an end,” he said.

Businessmen in fancy cars have no business delivering water to residents through water trucking businesses. 

“They make sure there is failure by the local authorities to deliver water, leading to the alternative of relying on them [trucks] to transport water, because they make money. There is no dignity for our people to be standing on the streets for water from a truck where somebody is making money.”

He condemned municipalities and water boards that have been linked to corruption through various investigations. 

“At a local government level, financial mismanagement, insufficient revenue collection systems and high levels of physical water losses are compounding service delivery problems.”

However, Ramaphosa also commended the water and sanitation department for the work done in the past 30 years. 

“In 2022 access to clean water stood at 88.5%, and access to improved sanitation at 80.7%. One contrasts this to the apartheid legacy where by 1994, about 30% of the population lacked access to adequate water supply and more than 50% were without adequate sanitation. 

“The department of water and sanitation is to be commended for its efforts to improve water and sanitation access.”

Solving the water and sanitation challenges required deepened collaboration between stakeholders in the water resources management ecosystem. 

“There needs to be greater co-operation between national and provincial governments, the water resource management entities and the private sector to support the turnaround in water stewardship. Much of this focus must be on supporting service delivery at local government level, where it matters most.  

“Structural reforms in the water sector, as vital as they are, cannot be effectively implemented without local government being strengthened.”

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