Elections on water: Another ‘decade of decline’ in Limpopo as water access tightens

The province has the lowest water access in South Africa, while all 10 Water Services Authorities (WSAs) are rated poor or critical by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). The DA in Limpopo says it has little confidence in the ANC-led government, claiming the party neither has the will nor the ability to deliver basic services. It was reacting to a Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) report that Limpopo’s access to water had fallen from 79% in 2015 to just 63% in 2025, leaving nearly half of the province’s 6.4 million residents without the precious commodity. The province now has the lowest water access in South Africa, while all 10 Water Services Authorities (WSAs) are rated poor or critical by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). LIVE interactive map, latest news, multimedia and more! View Map Speaking this week, with less than two months before the local government elections, DA provincial leader Jacques Smalle described it as another decade of declining service delivery under ANC leadership. He pointed out that the decline came as billions of rand were being spent on ambitious water infrastructure across the province’s five regions: Sekhukhune, Waterberg, Mopani, Vhembe and Capricorn. “The problem is therefore not simply a lack of money. It is what happens to that money once it reaches failing municipalities. ANC-led municipalities and the provincial government cannot claim they did not know what was wrong.” A history of concern Following mounting complaints ahead of the 2021 local government elections, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) held a province-wide inquiry into Limpopo’s WSAs in 2021. Its final report, released in October 2023, found that most WSAs were failing to meet their constitutional and statutory obligations to provide sufficient water. It identified insufficient skills, poor planning, weak execution and failure to properly spend water grants as underlying causes. The SAHRC’s 2024-25 monitoring found that Vhembe failed to implement recommendations, water supply was intermittent in Bela-Bela and Thabazimbi, and Sekhukhune continued to face shortages. In September 2025, the Department of Water and Sanitation listed all 10 Limpopo WSAs among South Africa’s 105 worst-performing water authorities. Mogalakwena, Polokwane, Thabazimbi, and Vhembe were classified as critical, while the remaining six were rated poor. “The governance crisis is also becoming a financial crisis. In July 2026, National Treasury temporarily withheld equitable-share transfers from Mopani, Thabazimbi, and Modimolle-Mookgophong because of persistent and serious financial-management failures. “Their funding was later released subject to corrective commitments, including arrangements to address substantial bulk-water debt,” Smalle said. ‘Appoint the right people’ Smalle said to curb the situation from escalating, the government must appoint capable people on merit, ring-fence water revenue, maintain infrastructure, reduce losses, complete projects on time, strengthen revenue collection, and enforce consequences for failure. He said residents should not have to live from tanker to tanker and promise to promise. Limpopo’s water crisis is not simply a crisis of broken pipes, ageing pumps and failing treatment plants, but a crisis of governance under the ANC, he claimed. “The SAHRC diagnosed the governance failure. The ANC was told how to fix it, but failed to turn it around. For residents, the test is simple: when you open the tap, clean water must come out,” said Smalle.