Thembisile Hani Local Municipality in Mpumalanga faces a major water shortfall, but through disciplined funding, infrastructure projects, and community engagement, it is steadily improving supply, sanitation, and compliance – showing how municipalities can make real progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6).

THLM is home to 310 458 people in 110 563 households. While 75% have access to water, only 28% have sanitation. With demand at 99 Ml/day and supply at just 42 Mℓ/day, the 56.8 Mℓ/day shortfall highlights the urgent need for improved service delivery.

Dumisani Mahlangu, a municipal manager for Thembisile Hani, says, “Most of our focus as a municipality is on water. Water infrastructure, water sources, and ensuring the local population understands what we are doing.” For Mahlangu SDG 6 is not an ideal but, “a goal that pushes us in the right direction and something to measure ourselves against.”

Current state of water in THLM

The current state of water in THLM is still behind SDG 6, but the municipality has made significant strides, and the path forward is promising and tangible.

The municipality has historically had no access to its own water sources, instead relying on agreements with Rand Water and a cross-boundary scheme with the City of Tshwane, Mahlangu says, “Due to our shortfall we are one of the municipalities that implement water rationing, which is of course not the best and not sustainable. We maintain careful contact with the communities and ensure that everyone understands the rationing times and decisions.”

To grow their supply, and get tighter control of it, the municipality is working on a few infrastructure projects and agreements that will bolster supply and begin the process of creating a water surplus:

• Loskop Scheme: Construction of pump stations and pipelines that can facilitate the abstraction of 20 Ml /day from the Loskop Dam. This will then feed into various other water supply schemes planned by the municipality.
• City of Tshwane shortfall: The municipality has a cross-boundary agreement with the City of Tshwane, but there have been several issues plaguing this agreement. The matter has gone to the South African Human Rights Commission and is currently under mediation to gain at least 7 Ml /day from the contractual 16.6 Ml /day.
• Moloto Groundwater: Moloto is a village under THLM and is under the current water rationing. The village can be supplied with 2 Ml /day of groundwater to aid the supply there.
• Borehole: Various villages (including farm areas) are prime candidates for boreholes, adding 4 Ml /day to the current supply.
• Rand Water additional bulk: There is a planned long-term increase in water supplied from Rand Water, adding 30 Ml /day to the supply,
• Water demand management: A reduction of water losses from 34% to below 20% which will add an additional 5.53 Ml /day into the system.

“The plan is that these projects and agreements will add 68.53 Ml /day to the supply, creating a surplus of 11.73 Ml /day for the municipality, which will end rationing,” says Mahlangu. While supply is the top concern, it will feed into other objectives such as the proposed sanitation strategies:

• Construction of Alternative Sanitation Systems.
• Refurbishment of the KwaMhlanga Oxidation Ponds.
• Construction of the Luthuli Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) which will add 20 Ml /day to the KwaMhlanga Sanitation Scheme.
• Upgrading the Tweefontein WWTW from 1.5 to 4.5 Ml /Day.

Finance and funding

Municipalities face scrutiny over finances, failures, and unfulfilled infrastructure and funding promises, all of which fuel public concern. The THLM is an example of how ringfencing finance, and applying accountability, transparency, and planning to critical issues can work, and work well for South African municipalities facing large challenges.

Mahlangu explains, “From 2015–2025, THLM received R3.1 billion in Municipal Infrastructure Grants, allocating R1.87 billion (60%) to water. Starting at 90% in 2015, the budget tapered annually, keeping water funding high while still supporting other infrastructure.THLM also received R 542 526 000 from 2017 to 2025 through the Water Services Grant, all of which was used to augment the tapering water budget.”

Due to their work, the municipality qualifies for further grants, which displays the willingness of the National Government to fund municipalities who are achieving their goals. Mahlangu adds, “We are one of the municipalities that do not owe any entities for the services, we pay service providers within 6 days on average and have fostered good relationships with our stakeholders to ensure we are always bettering our services.”

This funding has had a tangible impact on key performance metrics:

Blue Drop: in 2013 THLM scored 67% on Blue Drop compliance, and in 2023 improved this score to 75%. This was done by obtaining a water use license to speed up approval for key water supply initiatives such as boreholes, improving interstitial capacity through staff recruitment and training in line with regulation 3630, extensive community engagement on proper water usage and conservation, as well as adding and refurbishing infrastructure.

Green Drop: scoring 26% on the Green Drop in 2013 the municipality conducted preventive maintenance and adopted a preventive maintenance programme, expanded effluent and sludge monitoring to meet Green Drop compliance, improve financial planning and resource allocation, adopt water demand management in line with national standards, as well repairing flow meters and improve data collection. This led to a score of 46% in 2023, while the municipality expects a much-improved score following the latest audit that was conducted by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

No Drop: The municipality scored 43% in No Drop compliance and is addressing this through minimising non-revenue water, meter maintenance and replacement programmes, and conducting water balance checks.

The DWS’s Water Indaba 2025 was a call to action. Municipalities were grouped according to their performance and issues, ordered from ‘best’ to ‘worst’ performing. These municipal forums were made to discuss problems and plot action plans for each municipality regarding their water service delivery. THLM has implemented 11 out of 20 interventions that came from these discussions thus far, and Mahlangu says, “we will continue to implement the various plans and interventions as per DWS guidance.”