Deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, responding to questions in the National Council of Provinces recently, says the infrastructure of some municipalities is ageing to such an extent that they lose up to 50% of water supplied to them by local water boards and end up getting into financial trouble.

He says the standing rule was municipalities should pay service providers within 30 days of receiving certified accounts, but in reality, the local water boards were often not being paid on time, for various reasons.

“Where there are leakages owing to decaying infrastructure, books cannot easily be balanced because local governments do not pay up. This most often affects small service suppliers.

“In truth, if the municipality has the capacity, maintenance takes precedence. Otherwise the municipality has to pay for water that flows through the streets. The idea of maintaining a bulk infrastructure is to avoid wastage and keep properly balanced books and avoid wastage.

“We must attend to maintenance, and if municipalities do not have capacity, the provinces are supposed to assist them,” Motlanthe said.