Sedibeng Water: First Water Board Disestablished — Five Years to Pay Suppliers, R200m+ in Interest and Penalties

R200 million+ (interest and penalties, AGSA)

documented loss

Sedibeng Water, the bulk supplier to municipalities across the Free State, North West and Northern Cape, was starved of revenue by non-paying municipalities, took about five years to pay its own suppliers, accumulated more than R200 million in interest and penalties, missed statutory deadlines and received repeat qualified audits. On 23 May 2022 the Minister gazetted its disestablishment under section 28 of the Water Services Act, and on 26 July 2022 its functions were split between Bloem Water and Magalies Water — the first water board the state has dissolved.

The Record The Evidence What Was Lost Implicated Institutions The Paper Trail

The Record

Water boards sit between the Department of Water and Sanitation and the municipalities: they buy raw water, treat it and sell it to councils in bulk. Sedibeng Water served Matjhabeng, Maquassi Hills, Nala, Tokologo and other municipalities in the Free State, North West and Northern Cape — several of which are in this archive as collapsed. They did not pay it. Sedibeng in turn could not pay its suppliers; by the Auditor-General's account it took about five years to settle creditors, accumulating more than R200 million in interest and penalties, missed its statutory reporting deadlines and drew repeat qualified audit opinions, while skipping the maintenance its plants needed.

On 23 May 2022 Minister Senzo Mchunu gazetted the board's disestablishment under section 28 of the Water Services Act, framed as a "realignment" of the water-board sector for sustainability. On 26 July 2022 Sedibeng ceased to exist; Bloem Water took its Free State and Northern Cape functions and Magalies Water the North West. It is the first water board the state has had to kill, and the parent of the Matjhabeng collapse in this archive.