Service Magazine Issue 82

ISSUE 82 

MARCH/APRIL/MAY 2023 

L E A D E R S H I P I N G O V E R N M E N T 

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 

THE LEARNERSHIP HACK 

WATER, WATER NOWHERE 

PASA: ON THE UP AND UPSTREAM 

MAKING SMART DECISIONS 

CLLR ANDRÉ TRUTER, EXECUTIVE MAYOR, 

SALDANHA BAY MUNICIPALITY 

SOUTH AFRICA IN THE DARK

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Fixed Line Voice Solutions 

082 1960

contents 

S 

IN THIS ISSUE | SERVICE 82 | MARCH/APRIL/MAY 2023 

SERVE AND DELIVER 

News and updates 

SOUTH AFRICA’S ENERGY CRISIS 

The country is in the grip of a profound 

energy crisis 

LAUNCHING SALDANHA BAY INTO 

THE FUTURE 

Exciting new smart poles for the Saldanha 

Bay Municipality 

4 

EXPLORATIONS FOR SA 

PASA regulates oil and gas exploration for 

SA’s economic wellbeing 

6 

THE POWER OF UHURU 

Service Magazine interviews the founder of 

Uhuru Development Projects 

9 

POWER CUTS PLAYING HAVOC 

WITH WATER 

SA’s water networks are severely affected 

by loadshedding 

10 

MUNICIPALITIES AND THE ENERGY 

SUPPLY GAP 

SA’s energy shortage is having a profound 

impact on its cities 

12 

WHEN CRISES COLLIDE 

Water is SA’s next “perfect storm” 

14 

THE STATE OF OUR WATER 

Who does what with SA’s water 

17 

THE MODEL FOR WATER DELIVERY 

Rand Water says that it must be changed 

18 

NON-PAYMENT FOR WATER 

SERVICES 

The situation is reaching a crisis point 

20 

EFFICIENT WATER DELIVERY 

Rand Water gives advice on what 

municipalities can do to promote efficient 

water delivery 

22 

THE NATIONAL WASTE 

MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 

How a country manages its waste is a 

fundamental indicator of its society 

24 26 

LEARNERSHIPS: A HACK FOR 

SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 

Economic growth and skills development 

can be achieved through learnerships 

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 

Needs a new kind of leader 

28 

30 32 

Service magazine | 1

S 

editor’s note 

Resilience in service 

R 

Resiliency is the capacity to recover from failures, disasters, 

crises or fiascos and still have the ability to function effectively. 

Resilience can also be described as a community’s capacity to 

deal with an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence and be able to resist 

it, acclimatise through it and then to recover effectually and to 

ultimately learn from the disruption. 

Covid-19 taught us how to cope in the face of immense 

adversity, and the new normal brought with it communities, cities 

and organisations that are building their resilience to cope with 

an uncertain future. The ability of a service delivery structure, 

such as government, to react, adjust and fortify in the face of 

conflict is crucial. 

“We cannot undo the mistakes that were made in the past,” 

President Ramaphosa proclaimed in his 2023 State of the Nation 

Address. “What we can do is fix the problem today to keep the lights 

on tomorrow and for generations to come.” The problem today is 

that we are in the grip of a profound energy crisis, the seeds of 

which were planted many years ago. 

Ramaphosa then announced that government had classified the 

crisis and its impact as a disaster and declared a National State of 

Disaster. “It will enable us to accelerate energy projects and limit 

regulatory requirements,” he said. Read more about the reforms, 

rollouts and rebates that government has taken to mitigate the 

disaster on page 6. 

South Africa’s energy shortage is having a profound impact on 

its cities at a time when they urgently need to recover from the 

Covid-19 crisis. South African municipalities have a constitutional 

mandate to distribute electricity to citizens (page 17). 

Craig Kesson, PwC South Africa, says: “Resolving the energy 

shortfall requires a collective effort across private and public 

sectors, including, and especially, by municipalities who play a 

key role in the development of sustainable energy strategies. 

By playing a key role in resolving the energy supply gap, 

municipalities will be able to contribute to local economic 

development and job creation.” 

Municipalities also bear the biggest responsibility for clean 

water provision in the country, but do not have the ability to 

fix the system. Each year, budgets to safeguard water supplies 

go unspent. 

Efforts to fix South Africa’s water system have been hampered by 

weak local capacity and deep degeneracy (page 14). 

After more than a decade of neglect, mismanagement and 

corruption, the country’s water infrastructure can no longer supply 

many communities with reliable access to safe drinking water. In the 

Department of Water and Sanitation’s latest drinking water report, 

more than 60% of water supply systems did not meet water quality 

standards (page 20). 

And Eskom’s decline is deepening the problem. 

“In places like Johannesburg, you have the water supplies; 

however, you are experiencing shortages because of dilapidated 

infrastructure,” explains water expert Dr Anja du Plessis. “[That] 

infrastructure is now collapsing under loadshedding.” 

The ability of a service delivery structure, such as government, to 

react, adjust and fortify in the face of conflict is crucial. We need to 

be resilient, to serve and to fix the problem today to keep the lights 

on for tomorrow and for generations to come. 

Enjoy this issue! 

Alexis Knipe 

Editor 

Editor: Alexis Knipe | Publishing director: Chris Whales | Managing director: Clive During | Online editor: Christoff Scholtz 

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2 | Service magazine

technology 

S 

Supporting the financial 

services sector with SD-WAN 

The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) industry is increasingly taking a digital approach, 

moving infrastructure and applications to the cloud and introducing technologies, such as artificial 

intelligence, Internet of Things and machine learning. This digitisation has been accelerated by the 

adoption of hybrid working, while meeting the demand for a better customer experience. 

In addition, the BFSI industry continues 

to be a target for cyber-attackers and 

is subject to stringent regulatory and 

compliance requirements. These are over and 

above the pressure for companies to optimise 

costs and efficiencies. 

“Leveraging Software Defined Wide Area 

Network (SD-WAN) can help BFSI organisations 

overcome these challenges now and into 

the future. SD-WAN offers the opportunity to 

manage the network more effectively, support 

a hybrid working model, enhance cybersecurity 

and increase agility, to take advantage of digital 

transformation,” says Kevin Odudoh, executive 

head of the BFSI sector at Vodacom Business. 

BENEFITS OF SD-WAN 

A key advantage of SD-WAN is improved 

network performance. SD-WAN provides 

greater bandwidth and reduces congestion 

across multiple connection points on any 

available underlay connectivity service. The 

technology uses multiple paths for data 

traffic, selecting the best route while ensuring 

reliability in the event of a connection failure. 

Furthermore, this offers faster and stable 

application performance, critical in delivering 

superior customer experience. 

SD-WAN also offers flexibility, allowing users 

to connect to multiple technologies, applications 

and services, conveniently and remotely. For 

example, a bank call centre employee can work 

from home and access the network simply 

through a supplied SD-WAN router or device that 

is connected to any internet service, whether 

that’s fixed or wireless. 

“The network is managed centrally, 

reducing the time and resources necessary 

to manage the network, update security 

and enable compliance, which is a benefit 

for BFSI organisations that have sites locally 

and globally, as well as remote employees. 

This together with SD-WAN’s use of less 

expensive Internet connections rather than 

dedicated connections such as MPLS, saves 

costs in maintaining a wide area network,” 

adds Odudoh. 

In addition, SD-WAN can use Virtual Private 

Network (VPN) connections to encrypt 

data traffic, which increases security when 

transmitting sensitive information such as 

financial transactions. SD-WAN also combines 

managed security services, such as firewalls, 

ensuring a secure infrastructure and highquality 

performance. 

SELECTING THE RIGHT 

SD-WAN PARTNER 

Vodacom Business was the first 

telecommunications operator in Africa to 

achieve the prestigious MEF3.0 SD-WAN 

certification in 2020. This certification enables 

providers to confirm that their solutions 

comply with the highest industry standards for 

performance, assurance and agility. 

With the expertise to meet the BFSI sector’s 

evolving needs, Vodacom Business provides 

on-demand support throughout the transition 

to SD-WAN and afterwards. Clients are also 

able to access Vodacom’s free LTE back-up 

solution, suitable for sites with less bandwidth, 

such as outlying branches and ATMs, and 

benefit from end-to-end security using Secure 

Access Service Edge. 

“Based on our learnings and that of our 

multi-vendor partners over the past three 

years, Vodacom Business offers leading 

SD-WAN technology that is flexible, reliable, 

cost-effective and secure. In using our own 

extensive infrastructure, our trusted partner 

base and our support services, BFSI clients can 

feel assured that Vodacom’s SD-WAN enables 

them to reap the benefits of digitisation in 

the long run,” concludes Ermano Quartero, 

executive head of Fixed Line Centre of 

Excellence at Vodacom Business. S 

Ermano Quartero, Executive Head 

of Fixed Line Centre of Excellence, 

Vodacom Business. 

Kevin Odudoh, Executive Head, BFSI 

Sector, Vodacom Business. 


S 

snippets 

SERVE AND DELIVER 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE 

National Treasury has released the local government revenue and 

expenditure report for the second quarter of the 2022/23 financial year. 

The report is part of the In-year Management, Monitoring and Reporting 

System for Local Government, which enables provincial and national 

government to exercise oversight over municipalities and identify 

possible challenges in implementing municipal budgets. 

AGGREGATE TRENDS 

Municipalities spent 42.3% (R235.9-billion) of the total adopted 

expenditure budget of R557.8-billion as of 31 December 2022. In 

respect of revenue, aggregate billing and other revenue amounted 

to 48.5% (R270.3-billion) of the total adopted revenue budget. 

Of the adopted operating expenditure budget amounting to R488.2- 

billion, 44.2% (R215.8 billion) was spent by 31 December 2022. 

Municipalities have adopted the budget for salaries and wages 

expenditure at R146.6-billion (including remuneration of councillors), 

which is R8.6-billion more than the adopted budget of R138-billion 

reported in the second quarter of the 2021/22 municipal financial year. 

This constitutes 30% of their total operational expenditure 

budget of R488.2-billion. As of 31 December 2022, 

spending on salaries and wages is 46.2% (R67.8-billion). 

Capital expenditure for all municipalities amounted to 28.8% 

(R20.1-billion) of the adopted capital budget of R69.8-billion. 

Aggregated year-to-date operating expenditure for metros amounts to 

46% (R134.3-billion) of their adopted budget expenditure of R292.1- 

billion. The aggregated adopted capital budget for metros in the 

2022/23 financial year is R32-billion, of which 26.8% (R8.6-billion) 

was spent by 31 December 2022. 

As of 31 December 2022, aggregated revenue for secondary cities is 

44.1% (R35.2-billion) of their total adopted revenue budget of R71.4- 

billion for the 2022/23 financial year. The year-to-date aggregated 

operating expenditure level of the secondary cities is 42.6% or R30.2- 

billion of the total adopted operating budget of R70.9-billion for the 

2022/23 financial year. Capital spending levels for secondary cities 

reported an average of 29.2% (R2.5-billion) of the adopted capital 

budget of R8.5-billion. 

Aggregate municipal consumer debts amounted to R305.8-billion as 

of 31 December 2022. 

Government debt accounts for 7.5% (R22.9-billion) of the total 

outstanding debtors. The largest component of this debt relates to 

households which account for 71.1% (R217.7-billion) 

Metropolitan municipalities are owed R154-billion in outstanding 

debt as of 31 December 2022. The largest contributors were the City 

of Johannesburg (28.8%), Ekurhuleni (19.9%), eThekwini (14.5%), 

Tshwane (11.8%) and Nelson Mandela Bay (9.8%). 

Municipalities owed their creditors R86-billion as of 31 December 

2022 and provinces with the highest percentage of outstanding 

municipal creditors in the category greater than 90 days include 

Northern Cape (90.4%), Mpumalanga (90.2%) and North West 

(83.7%). The total balance on borrowing for all municipalities equates 

to R59.1-billion as of 31 December 2022. This includes long-term loans 

of R44.3-billion, long-term marketable bonds of R8.4-billion, and other 

long-term non-marketable bonds of R5.1-billion. The balance represents other shortand 

long-term financing instruments. 

As of 31 December 2022, the total investments made by municipalities 

equate to R43.1-billion. 

CONDITIONAL GRANTS 

The 2022/23 municipal performance for the second quarter publication on 

conditional grants shows an improvement from the previous quarter, but at a 

slower rate year-on-year, with a considerable performance increase of 64.9%. 

Municipalities spent 31.9% of their total allocation in the second quarter of 

2022/23. 

As of 31 December 2022, 55.3% (R22.5-billion) of the R40.6-billion allocated 

to municipalities in direct conditional grants for 2022/23 had been transferred 

to municipalities. 

The metro municipalities have a total allocation of R11.2-billion in 

direct transfers of which 45.6% (R5.4-billion) was transferred. As at the 

end of December, 56.1% (R3-billion) of the total R5.4 billion transferred to 

metropolitan municipalities, had been spent 

The second quarter shows a slight improvement over the performance 

reported during the first quarter of the current financial year, however the 

improved expenditure is at a declining rate compared to the previous financial 

year. This is a clear indication that municipalities’ project implementation 

planning is deficient, and it is one area that needs improvement. 


snippets 

S 

COCT ON TACKLING ENERGY CRISIS 

At Premier Alan Winde’s fourth Energy Digicon, the executive 

mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis outlined how the City of 

Cape Town (CoCT) is tackling the energy crisis: 

Renewable power without battery storage – this would help 

ensure sufficient power supply. 

The CoCT will make public a tender for 500MW of 

dispatchable power. Small-scale embedded generation 

– allowing people to be net generators of energy at their 

homes or businesses. Excess power can be sold back to 

the municipality; businesses can currently do this, and 

households will be able to by the end of 2023. 

The Power Heroes initiative – where residents are rewarded 

for reducing their power use. 

“The measures the CoCT is implementing are very encouraging. 

Cape Town’s population is growing at a rapid rate and it is 

important that the mayor and his team do everything they can to 

boost power production, protecting households and businesses 

from severe blackouts. 

This includes embracing innovation. I urge all our municipalities 

to put the needs of our citizens first amid this crisis and to 

continuously work on their energy plans,” Premier Winde said. 

PUBLIC SECTOR 

ONLINE THREATS 

The launch of the Cybercrimes Act is 

a very telling indicator of the fervour 

with which global threat actors are 

eyeing South Africa as a target for 

online exploitation. The act seeks 

to expand jurisdiction for law enforcement to regulate cybercrime, 

allowing government to enter into agreements with foreign states and 

be better able to detect, prevent and mitigate potential attacks. 

Already, major private and public sector institutions are being breached 

more frequently over time. 

While a legislative framework is a positive step, ensuring the security of 

our state resources and vast amounts of data on each citizen requires 

the appropriate online tools. 

The challenge for the State is the limited available high-level cyber 

security skills as well as the mounting cost of technology, mainly the 

traditional anti-malware software. 

The development of extended detection and response (XDR) platforms 

has now changed how entities will manage their security, allowing them 

to better protect their data in a managed centrally system powered by AI, 

that grows and adapts alongside organisations, in real time. 

As it collects data from previously separate tools, XDR allows for 

easier and faster investigation of threats and breaches, as well as 

advising on the best response based on previous results across a 

much wider network. 

Training staff members can go a long way in securing the 

environment. This, together with the support of XDR systems that 

instantly analyse data from across the organisation to predict and 

prevent emerging threats, identify root causes and respond in real 

time, is the path of action we need to take in the South African public 

sector to protect our industries and economy. 

By Carlo Bolzonello, Trellix SA country lead 

CALL FOR ACCELERATED SERVICE DELIVERY 

MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Nono Maloyi has urged municipalities to spend their infrastructure 

grants allocation to curb poor service delivery which is mainly due to poorly maintained infrastructure. 

Malolyi said most of the recent service delivery protests are because of lack of provision of basic services by municipalities and that the grants 

are meant to eradicate municipal infrastructure backlogs and ensure the provision of basic services. 

He said while municipalities are failing to pay Eskom and water utilities, they are also owed large amounts of money by some departments. He added 

that the department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Provincial Treasury will work on a strategy to assist municipalities to 

recoup monies owed to them by other departments. 

“Municipalities must consider investing in pre-paid meters where possible. Consumers will have no option but to pay for what they use. In 

that way, municipalities will be able to generate revenue and meet their financial obligations.” 


S 

energy 

South Africa’s energy crisis 

Government’s most immediate priority is to restore energy security. The country is in 

the grip of a profound energy crisis, the seeds of which were planted many years ago. 

I 

In July 2022, President Ramaphosa announced a clear action plan to 

address the energy crisis. This was to address the electricity shortfall 

of 4 000 to 6 000 megawatts (MW). The plan outlined five key 

interventions to: 

• Fix Eskom’s coal-fired power stations and improve the availability 

of existing supply. 

• Enable and accelerate private investment in generation capacity. 

• Accelerate procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas 

and battery storage. 

• Unleash businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar. 

• Fundamentally transform the electricity sector to achieve longterm 

energy security. 

ESKOM’S PERFORMANCE 

Government has taken steps to improve the performance of Eskom’s 

existing power stations so that the coal-fired power stations that 

provide 80% of electricity produce the amount of electricity for 

which they were designed. Under its new board, Eskom is deploying 

people and resources to improve the reliability of the six power 

stations that have contributed the most to loadshedding. 

Eskom is urgently fast-tracking construction of a temporary 

solution to bring back three units at Kusile Power Station following 

the collapse of a chimney stack last year, while simultaneously 

repairing the permanent structure. 

Experts agree that this plan is the most realistic route to end 

loadshedding. Since then, government has made important progress 

in implementing the plan. 

“We have deep skills and expertise right here in South Africa – 

we just need to use them.” 

President Cyril Ramaphosa, SoNA, 9 February 2023. 

Government is rebuilding the skills that have been lost and 

have already recruited skilled personnel at senior levels to be 

deployed at underperforming power stations. The Engineering 

Council of South Africa has offered to give as much assistance as 

required by deploying engineers to work with the management 

teams at power stations. 

National Treasury is finalising a solution to Eskom’s R400-billion 

debt burden in a manner that is equitable and fair to all stakeholders, 

which will enable the utility to make necessary investments in 

maintenance and transmission. Government will support Eskom 

to secure additional funding to purchase diesel for the rest of the 

financial year. This should reduce the severity of loadshedding as 

Eskom will be able to use its diesel-run plants when the system is 

under strain. 

Eskom has launched a programme to buy excess power 

from private generators and has already secured 300MW from 

neighbouring countries. 

“We cannot undo the mistakes that were made in the past, 

the capacity that was not built, the damage that was done to 

our power plants due to a lack of maintenance, or the effects 

of state capture on our institutions. What we can do is fix 

the problem today to keep the lights on tomorrow and for 

generations to come.” 

President Cyril Ramaphosa, State of the Nation Address 

(SoNA), 9 February 2023, Cape Town City Hall. 

CORRUPTION AND THEFT 

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has established 

a dedicated team with senior leadership to deal with the 

pervasive corruption and theft at several power stations that 

has contributed to the poor performance of these stations. 

Intelligence-driven operations at Eskom-related sites have so 

far resulted in 43 arrests. 

RESTRUCTURING ESKOM 

As part of the broader reform process, the restructuring of Eskom 

that government previously announced is proceeding and the 

National Transmission Company will soon be operational with an 

independent board. 


energy 

S 

Later this year, government will table the Electricity Regulation 

Amendment Bill to transform the energy sector and establish a 

competitive electricity market. 

SOLAR POWER 

As indicated in July last year, and with a view to addressing the 

loadshedding crisis, government is going to proceed with the 

rollout of rooftop solar panels. In his Budget Speech [upcoming 

at time of press], the Minister of Finance will outline how 

households will be assisted and how businesses will be able to 

benefit from a tax incentive. 

National Treasury is working on adjustments to the Bounce-back 

Loan Scheme to help small businesses invest in solar equipment, 

and to allow banks and development finance institutions to borrow 

directly from the scheme to facilitate the leasing of solar panels to 

their customers. 

One of the potent reforms 

government has embarked upon 

is to allow private developers to 

generate electricity. 

NEW ELECTRICITY CAPACITY 

One of the potent reforms government has embarked upon is to 

allow private developers to generate electricity. There are now more 

than 100 projects, which are expected to provide over 9 000MW of 

new capacity over time. 

A few companies that have participated in the renewable energy 

programme will soon enter construction and deliver a total of 

“In a time of crisis, we need a single point of command and a 

single line of march. Just as we address the cause of the crisis, 

we also need to address its impact. The crisis has progressively 

evolved to affect every part of the society. We must act to lessen 

the impact of the crisis on farmers, on small businesses, on our 

water infrastructure and our transport network.” 


2 800MW of new capacity. Eskom will procure emergency power 

that can be deployed within six months to close the immediate gap. 

Government is investing in new transmission lines and substations, 

especially in areas such as the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and 

Western Cape. All these measures will result in a massive increase in 

power to the grid over the next 12 to 18 months, and beyond. 

This power will be in line with the diverse mix of energy sources, 

including the current coal-fired power stations, solar, wind, gas, 

nuclear, hydro and battery storage. To fully implement this plan, 

government needs strong central coordination and decisive action. 

NATIONAL STATE OF DISASTER 

The National Disaster Management Centre has consequently 

classified the energy crisis and its impact as a disaster. Government 

is, therefore, declaring a National State of Disaster to respond to 

the electricity crisis and its effects. The Minister of Cooperative 

Governance and Traditional Affairs has gazetted the declaration of 

the State of Disaster, which began with immediate effect. 

The State of Disaster will enable government to provide practical 

measures that it needs to take to support businesses in the food 

production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the 

roll-out of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power 

supply. Where technically possible, it will enable government to 

exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment 

plants from loadshedding. It will also help government to accelerate 

energy projects and limit regulatory requirements while maintaining 

rigorous environmental protections, procurement principles and 

technical standards. The Auditor-General will be brought in to 

ensure continuous monitoring of expenditure, to guard against any 

abuses of the funds needed to attend to this disaster. 


S 

energy 

“The process of restructuring government will give us an 

opportunity to determine the positioning of various areas 

of responsibilities and how best the various ministries and 

departments can best serve our national objectives. We are 

focusing our attention on the energy crisis right now and will 

address the restructuring of government in due course.” 


MINISTER OF ELECTRICITY IN THE PRESIDENCY 

This is necessary because an effective response to this crisis involves 

several different departments and entities that require coordination 

from the centre of government. Government will be including 

other social partners in an effective structure like the one it set up 

to drive the vaccine rollout. Extraordinary circumstances call for 

extraordinary measures. 

The energy crisis is an existential threat to the economy and social 

fabric. Government must spare no effort, and it must allow no delay, 

in implementing these measures. As it takes these actions to resolve 

the energy crisis, government is mindful of the risks that climate 

change poses to society. 

CLIMATE CHANGE 

Extreme weather events in the form of drought, floods and wildfires 

increasingly pose a risk to the health, wellbeing and safety of people. 

Government will continue its just transition to a low-carbon economy 

at a pace the country can afford and in a manner that ensures energy 

security. Government will undertake the just transition in a way 

that opens the possibility of new investments, new industrialisation 

and that, above all, creates new jobs. The Presidential Climate 

Commission is guiding much of this work, and, in doing so, 

building a new model for inclusive and collective decision-making, 

incorporating the individuals, workers and communities that are 

most affected in the transition. 

JUST ENERGY TRANSITION INVESTMENT PLAN 

Through the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP), 

R1.5-trillion will be invested in the economy over the next five years 

in new frontiers such as renewable energy, green hydrogen and 

electric vehicles. Several projects are already underway, including 

the development of a new facility by Sasol at Boegoebaai in the 

Northern Cape, the Prieska Power Reserve in the Free State, and the 

Hydrogen Valley initiative in Limpopo, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. 

Extraordinary circumstances call 

for extraordinary measures. 

The Northern Cape has already attracted well over R100-billion in 

investments in renewable energy projects. 

These and other massive investments in renewable energy 

will create jobs and stimulate local economies not only in the 

Northern Cape, but also in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and 

Mpumalanga, turning even the most arid desert into a giant 

energy source. Above all, the just transition will prioritise 

workers and communities in vulnerable industries to ensure that 

no one is left behind. S 


technology 

S 

Smart poles launch Saldanha Bay 

Municipality into the digital future 

Fibre is about more than just connecting to the Internet, says Zoom Fibre’s managing director Mohamed Asmal, in 

reference to the exciting new smart poles that have been installed in various sites in the Saldanha Bay Municipality. 

F 

“Fibre is about unleashing the power of a 

digital future and we are doing this right 

now in the Saldanha Bay Municipality, and 

we will take these learnings and apply them 

to other regions where Zoom Fibre has 

coverage,” says Asmal. 

Zoom Fibre, which as part of the Baobab 

Project alongside its partners, the Saldanha 

Bay Municipality and Amoeba TSC, took on 

the task of managing the infrastructure – 

namely the fibre network – that would power 

the country’s first truly smart city. Zoom 

Fibre, whose Western Cape staff contingent 

is based in Vredenburg, is well-known to 

residents in the region having laid fibre in 

towns across the region. 

“I want you to imagine this,” says Asmal. 

“Imagine smart poles that run off their own 

renewable energy with a brain so powerful 

that they can adjust their brightness if there 

is no-one in the streets, they can proactively 

reduce crime and reactively lead to the 

capture and arrest of criminals, manage 

traffic volumes, provide WiFi hotspots and 

so much more. That is the immense power 

of fibre and that is why we wake up every 

morning at Zoom Fibre: to bring the power 

of fibre to the people and to drive real digital 

inclusion and transformation, and so as we 

work through this proof of concept with 

the first batch of towers, over time and as it 

becomes feasible, we will increase the scope 

and functionality of the smart towers and 

eventually unleash the full power of fibre.” 

Asmal says that while the current phase 

in Saldanha Bay Municipality (SBM) is a 

pilot, or a proof of concept, the idea is to 

roll out the smart poles across the entire 

municipality and eventually in other regions 

of the country. “We foresee smart poles 

wherever Zoom Fibre has a fibre network 

that can enable them,” he says. 

Beyond working towards the ability 

to recognise faces and people without 

capturing personal information, and 

therefore link suspects to a crime, the smart 

poles – such as the ones in the SBM region 

– would eventually have the functionality to 

be able to be proactive, such as raise alerts if 

suspicious people were seen gathering in the 

vicinity of a business or school, for example, 

and deploy security and alert the police. 

“The Internet of Things and smart cities, 

in general, are changing the face of our 

world, and the analytical ability of these 

smart poles, which is enabled by our fibre, 

means SBM is leading the pack in South 

Africa,” he says. 

An issue that anyone in the Saldanha Bay 

Municipality will be aware of, is how cellphone 

coverage takes a dip and sometimes 

disappears during loadshedding in the 

region. These smart towers could well form 

bases for Long Term Evolution (LTE) 

providers to deliver connectivity to their 

customers without the fear of power cuts 

as the poles themselves would be powered 

by solar panels and bi-directional turbines. 

This could radically change the experience 

for thousands of residents. 

Similarly, citizens who use Zoom Fibre 

through any ISP will eventually be able to 

log onto their own Internet package when 

they move from tower to tower, a bit like 

taking their home fibre package with them 

when they go out and about. Asmal says that 

even those without Internet packages would 

eventually be able to access WiFi, the details 

of which will be ironed out shortly. He 

adds that Zoom Fibre would be conducting 

feasibility studies around deploying the 

same LTE and WiFi functionality in other 

regions in due course. 

The launch of the smart poles in 

SBM follows the launch of a mobile app 

produced by Baobab Project partner 

Amoeba TSC and made available to 

municipal rates customers towards the 

end of last year. “We are committed to 

this region and will continue pioneering 

the power of fibre and working with 

our partners to turn SBM into a smart 

city connected to the world,” says Asmal. 

“Similarly, as we take the lessons learnt 

from SBM and its journey to becoming a 

true smart city, we will eventually deploy 

more value-added services in other regions 

serviced by Zoom Fibre.” S 


S 

oil and gas 

Encouraging and regulating 

exploration and production for the 

economic growth of South Africa 

South Africa is now one of eight countries that produces helium, 16 years after Petroleum Agency South Africa 

granted exploration rights. If anyone should doubt the significance to the national economy or the importance 

to the nation as a whole of the distribution of licences in the oil and gas sector, they should pause for a moment 

and consider the trajectory of a project currently underway in the northern part of the Free State province. 

T 

The triangle made up of the towns of 

Virginia, Welkom and Theunissen used to be 

rich in gold mines, but for many years yields 

declined and the area’s economy struggled 

with job losses rising steadily. A fortuitous 

discovery of some methane gas on a farm 

in Virginia in 1998 led to the creation of 

a company and to some entrepreneurs 

requesting licences to explore. 

Which is where Petroleum Agency South 

Africa comes in. PASA is responsible for 

evaluating, promoting and regulating 

oil and gas exploration and production 

activities in South Africa and archives all 

relevant geotechnical data. The Agency acts 

as an advisor to the government and carries 

out special projects at the request of the 

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. 

Currently, natural gas supplies just 3% of 

South Africa’s primary energy. A significant 

challenge facing the development of a 

South Africa is one of 

only eight countries in 

the world to become a 

helium producer. 

major gas market is the dominance of coal. 

Opportunities for gas lie in the realisation 

of South Africa’s National Development 

Plan (NDP) and the Integrated Resource 

Plan (IRP). 

In 2007, exploration rights to the Virginia 

area were granted to a company which later 

became Tetra4, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 

Renergen. In 2012 a full onshore petroleum 

production right was awarded and a full 

Environmental Impact Assessment was 

completed in 2017. 

As custodian, Petroleum Agency SA 

ensures that companies applying for gas 

rights are vetted to make sure they are 

financially qualified and technically capable, 

as well having a good environmental track 

record. Oil and gas exploration requires 

enormous capital outlay and can represent 

a risk to workers, communities and the 

environment. Applicants are therefore 

required to prove their capabilities and 

safety record and must carry insurance for 

environmental rehabilitation. 

The Tetra4 Virginia Gas Project is the only 

holder of an onshore petroleum production 

licence issued by the Department of Mineral 

Resources and Energy through PASA. 

In the years since the first rights were 

issued, the project leaders have rolled out 

various aspects of the project, particularly 

related to contracts with manufacturers and 

transport companies for the use of liquified 

natural gas (LNG). But helium production 

was also on line. 

In October 2022, the commercial 

operation of the LNG plant came on 

stream and in January 2023, helium 

started being produced. 

To put this into perspective, with the 

January announcement South Africa 

became one of only eight countries in the 

world to become a helium producer. There 

are now just 16 places on the planet where 

this valuable resource is produced. 

Renergen states that the economic (NPV) 

valuation for proved and probable reserves 

as of 2019 was R8.9-billion. Subsequent tests 

have suggested that the resource is even 

more plentiful than first thought. 

Helium is used in rocket launches and 

microchips and about 85 tons of it are 

used every day. 

The potential economic spinoffs for South 

Africa – and the effect that the availability 

of LNG could have on making the country’s 

transport industry less reliant on dirty fuels 

– will be enormous. 

And PASA has played a vital role in 

bringing this all about, by issuing licences in 

a responsible manner. 

TRANSITIONING TO GAS 

The transition to cleaner fuels and 

renewables is inevitable if the world is 

to reduce the negative impact of climate 

change. South Africa is a signatory to the 

Paris Agreement and has committed to a 

“Peak-Plateau-Decline” carbon emission 

trajectory. The government’s policy is to 

diversify the country’s energy mix which is 

currently coal-dominated to a lower-carbon 

future by introducing proportionately 

higher renewable-energy resources such 

as wind and solar into the energy mix as 

well as gas-to-power. Gas burns with less 

than half the CO2 emissions from coal and 

additionally has no SOx emissions. 

Gas is therefore a suitable transition 

fuel towards a lower-carbon economy 

for South Africa especially since gas-topower 

technologies are flexible and would 

therefore complement the intermittent 

renewable energy being added to the 

national grid. 

South Africa’s energy mix is changing 

to include more gas through importing 

liquefied natural gas (LNG), using shale gas 

if reserves prove commercial and developing 


oil and gas 

S 

infrastructure for the import of LNG. 

Petroleum Agency SA plays an important 

role in developing South Africa’s gas market 

by attracting qualified and competent 

companies to explore for gas. Another 

major focus is increasing the inclusion of 

historically disadvantaged South Africanowned 

entities in the upstream industry. 

The International Energy Association 

(IEA) has published a report, Africa Energy 

Outlook 2022, which tackles the supposed 

conflict between Africa’s developmental 

needs and the urgent imperative to move 

away from fossil fuels. 

Both can be achieved, according to the 

report. A key factor in allowing Africa to 

continue to industrialise will be an uptick in 

the discovery and use of gas. If all the gas so 

far discovered in and off Africa was used, 

the continent’s share of global emissions 

would rise by 0.5% to 3.5%. 

Petroleum Agency South Africa 

has welcomed the report. PASA has 

consistently argued that South Africa’s 

road to net zero emissions will be via gas. 

As PASA CEO, Dr Phindile Masangane, 

noted in the context of major discoveries 

of oil condensate off the southern coast, 

“Gas is an obvious bridge to a lower-carbon 

future in South Africa.” S 

VALUE STATEMENT 

Petroleum Agency SA aspires to be a 

world–class organisation, committed to: 

• Professional excellence 

• Integrity 

• Direct, open, consultative 

communication 

• Transparency 

• Respect 

• Teamwork 

• Active regard for our natural 

environment 

• Corporate social responsibility in 

an empowering, vibrant workplace 

where diversity is valued. 

The Virginia Gas Project started 

producing helium in January 2023, a 

significant milestone for South Africa, 

which becomes the world’s eighth 

helium producer. Renergen is operating 

with licences from Petroleum Agency 

South Africa. 

Credit: Renergen 

New uses for natural gas. As the 

holder of the only onshore petroleum 

production licence issued by the 

Department of Mineral Resources 

and Energy through PASA, Renergen, 

through its subsidiary Tetra4, is 

producing natural gas and helium from 

its Virginia Gas Project near Welkom in 

the Free State. 

Credit: Renergen 


S 

energy 

The power of Uhuru 

Uhuru is a Swahili word that means freedom. Uhuru Development Projects means power and 

energy for municipalities in South Africa. Service magazine speaks to Aretha Charles, founder 

of Uhuru Development Projects, about energy solutions for local government. 

Please share with us your career trajectory? 

In 2011, I worked in a pilot project funded by the [then] South 

African National Energy Research Institute (SANERI), effecting 

renewable energy technologies that ranged from biogas to solar 

systems to energy efficiency and power generation. We worked closely 

with the University of Fort Hare which conducted its own research 

in renewable energy in terms of interventions and techniques for 

rural areas. 

My personal ambition was to prove that a black female-owned 

South African company can take space in this industry. In 2012, I 

established Uhuru Development Projects, which was based on the 

implementation of the research projects mentioned above. Our 

area of expertise is divided into energy efficiency with the focus on 

municipalities and off-grid run electrification. Our objective is to 

meet the socio-economic dynamics of energy security in the rural 

areas of South Africa. 

Please outline Uhuru Development Projects’ successes. 

I cannot paint a glamorous picture as it has not been an easy 

journey. This industry requires huge capital security for project 

implementation. A project needs finance before it is even bankable. 

Uhuru has technology partners in Europe and we have 

engaged with manufacturers from various countries in terms of 

understanding our products in their entirety in the market to 

ensure that we do not only introduce components of the products 

to South Africa. 

Our success is owed to research, piloting projects and forming 

strategic partnerships. Our growth is based on the understanding 

we have of the legislative developments in South Africa. 

We were a part of the engagements with the 100MW generation 

licence change. 

Uhuru is exceptionally well-structured today to the point that 

where there is an energy crisis, we can offer training, manufacturing 

and energy-efficiency programmes to lessen the current demand for 

electricity and to balance loadshedding. Our offerings are feasible 

for IPPs as well. 

Does Uhuru have any strategic partnerships? 

Our strategic partnerships are part of our core strength. We have a 

Turkish-based technology partner with over 20 years’ experience in 

developing IPPs and energy-efficiency turnkey projects. 

Our funders have interests in different projects, so that we have 

financial partners for each of the various projects in a model that 

fits our structure. 

We have partnered with iNgonyama Trust in KwaZulu-Natal and 

have 50% shareholding in a subsidiary company which is strategically 

positioned to place any deficiencies in skills development or power 

generation with entities that have social capital. 

Our skills programme was piloted with EWSeta and is now an 

implementation document for our proposals. 

We are setting up another strategic partnership with Mbuyane 

Traditional Council in Mpumalanga which allows us to tap into their 

land pockets and partake in the just energy transition as well. 

What is your stance on South Africa’s energy crisis? 

I am on the Renewable Energy Master Plan Committee and Brics 

Energy Working Group so I have insight into what 7government is 

trying to do. We bought into that structure based on understanding 

the industry and our input impacts the country’s plan. 

As a developer, I feel the energy crisis could have been avoided. 

Government should have taken more of a position in understanding 

that skills constitute all sectors and that for any sector to get off the 

ground it must invest in skills development for people to do the 

work. We need to use the energy crisis to fight unemployment. 

Secondly, government needs to implement and balance the 

supply and demand that causes loadshedding. When consumption 

capacity, which is the grid, is less than demand interventions need 

to be implemented to ensure that infrastructure is energy efficient. 

Without grid problems, there are no problems with supply. South 

Africa has 46 000MW of capacity yet we only produce 26 000MW; 

we need more megawatts so in the interim, intercessions should be 

applied that warrant energy-efficient infrastructure. 

Streetlights, municipal government buildings and hospital lighting 

should go off grid and indigent households could be subsidised 

with off-grid systems. 

As government, invest in skills development, have energy-efficient 

infrastructure to lessen demand on Eskom and create an enabling 

environment where this can be implemented but make sure that it 

is implemented. 

What future do you see for municipalities 

in the renewable energy sector? 

It is not really about the future. Municipalities are the custodians of 

energy distribution for many communities in South Africa as they 

transmit the power to the end user. They should be one of Eskom’s 

major consumers and Eskom should understand what their capacity 

needs are, for whatever reason, be it municipal, city or metro. That 

is what municipalities need from Eskom and these projections need 

to start now. They should already be a part of Eskom’s programme. 

One of the services that Uhuru offers municipalities is to take 

elements of energy that do not generate municipal revenue off the 

grid. So, for example, rather than accumulate Eskom debt, which is 

unable to meet the demand of power, take streetlights off the grid. 

Implement energy-efficient temporary solutions, take streetlights, 

municipal buildings and indigent households off the grid to enable 

an energy-efficient infrastructure and in doing so, savings are made 


energy 

S 

We need to use the energy crisis to 

fight unemployment. 

on the municipal balance sheet and the municipality becomes 

financially viable. Legislation dictates that a municipality must be 

financially viable to generate its own power or to purchase electricity 

from an IPP. 

It is a legislated obligation for municipalities to ensure that 

streetlights and municipal buildings are functional. Municipalities 

are also obligated to provide 50 free electricity units to impoverished 

households each month. These three interventions alone will 

facilitate a participation agreement with the municipality based on 

the attained savings. 

On enactment of a municipal project, Uhuru conducts a skills 

audit to determine the beneficiary and then provides training to 

them so that they become our rollout service providers in terms 

of implementation. Such programmes fit into and are ideal for 

municipalities, who should be spearheading such interventions. 

Municipalities remain as one of our main focuses in terms of 

clientele and these interventions can be easily implemented in them. 

The Energy Crisis Disaster Management Act has guidelines that 

are structured at provincial level and our mediations work from 

provincial level down too. 

When Uhuru conducts an audit, we project the potential savings in 

terms of power and rand value that could be made in implementing 

one of our programmes, which also offer immediate interventions 

for energy efficiency. Our projects help municipalities improve their 

job creation and skills development quotas and because they are a 

point of implementation, they become a strategic partner. 

Our strategy is to target municipalities in Mpumalanga where 

there is grid access. With grid capacity owing to the existing power 

stations in Mpumalanga, it is possible to generate excess power and 

sell it back to Eskom. 

Would you like to add anything? 

It is time for government to give us a platform of engagement. We 

understand what is happening globally in terms of just economic 

activities but if we were to zoom into South Africa, we would see a 

country that is relatively small that needs a proactive government to 

partner with the private sector and implement such interventions. 

We are not an advocate for cutting corners. Every working 

agreement made with government should be guided by legislation 

frameworks so that work is done within the rule of law. Public-private 

partnerships need a framework to work within. Government is at 

the forefront and is supposed to provide energy security for South 

African citizens and these interventions need to at least take off. 

We need a proactive government that is willing to listen, a 

government that is able to reciprocate with an attitude that “this 

is what we as government can do for you” and then guide us 

accordingly. In terms of implementation, we are open to such things. 

Together with the iNgonyama Trust, Uhuru Development Projects 

wants to roll out solar street lighting in rural areas. This hasn’t been 

done before in South Africa. 

Uhuru has so much to offer to the value chain in terms of energy 

interventions, energy efficiency and power generation. S 

Aretha Charles, Founder, Uhuru Development Projects. 


S 

utilities 

Power cuts in South Africa 

are playing havoc with the 

country’s water system 

South Africans lost a record 205 days of electricity in 2022 due to constant breakdowns at the coal-fired power plants 

run by Eskom, the state-owned electricity utility. The plants are old and have not been sufficiently maintained. 

By Anja du Plessis* 

T 

The country’s energy crisis has been escalating since April 2008, 

when scheduled power cuts were first implemented. One of the 

biggest casualties of more than a decade of severe power outages has 

been the country’s water processing and distribution networks. The 

most recent, and escalated, blackouts have led to water utilities in 

parts of the country issuing warnings about damage to water supply 

infrastructure and operations. 

The negative effects on water supply are far-reaching. Energy 

and water are intertwined. The water reticulation system – the 

transport of water from source, the treatment of water and sewage 

and the distribution and delivery of water to consumers – all 

require electricity. 

A number of cities, including Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela 

Bay, as well as smaller towns, have had drastic water cuts. 

These experiences – as well as the growing frequency of sewage 

spills – have given South Africans a glimpse of what the future might 

hold if the energy crisis isn’t properly addressed. Water shortages and 

prolonged cuts in supply are likely to become increasingly common. 

HOW IT WORKS 

A typical piped water supply system consists of the following: 

Water reticulation system. 


utilities 

S 

Water processing and distribution networks require electricity to 

pump water, for example, to water towers and reservoirs and then 

to consumers. Prolonged power cuts halt this process if no suitable 

back-up pumps are in place. The same applies to water treatment 

plants. Prolonged power outages can cause sewage spills if no 

working back-up pumps are in place. 

The power cuts have: 

• Further damaged already dilapidated and aged water 

infrastructure. The City of Cape Town is a case in point. The 

city’s systems are in danger of collapsing unless new investments 

are made to avoid or limit further damage. 

• Slowed or cut-off water distribution and delivery as the water 

reticulation system requires energy (for example working pumps). 

Without a continued required level of pressure in a pumpingbased 

transmission and distribution system, water cannot be 

distributed and delivered to the consumer. In Johannesburg, 

reservoirs have been unable to recover during severe power cuts. 

Some have reached critically low levels, leading to intermittent 

water supply, low water pressure and in some instances prolonged 

water outages. 

• Affected reticulation infrastructure. This is because sewage 

pump stations have broken due to old age and non-maintenance 

causing sewage spills. Multiple beaches have been closed in Cape 

Town and eThekwini municipalities due to unacceptable E. coli 

levels, attributed to pumps either not working or breaking, 

leading to sewage spills. 

The problems triggered by the power cuts have been made worse by 

the fact that the country’s water infrastructure has been deteriorating 

for decades. Water losses have been increasing because of decaying 

infrastructure such as old pipes which haven’t been replaced. 

The country also suffers from unsustainable water demands – 

there isn’t enough water available to meet increasing water demands 

from various sectors and consumers. Continued water pollution also 


S 

utilities 

The country needs a clear way 

forward to address both the energy 

and water crises. 

decreases the amount of water that’s fit for use or consumption, 

contributing to water stress. 

In addition, allegations of corruption and misappropriation of 

funds have also plagued the sector. 

SOME SOLUTIONS 

Water utilities have recognised the increase in water disruptions and 

outages. Consumers have been urged to: 

• Use less water during prolonged outages to decrease the risk 

of limiting water supply. Decreasing water consumption assists 

municipalities in dealing with operational challenges such as 

water towers and reservoirs reaching critically low levels. 

• Ensure they have water to last through the power outage (four 

hours or more). 

Other steps have been taken too: 

• Water restrictions have been imposed to decrease consumption, 

for example in the City of Johannesburg. 

• The City of Johannesburg is establishing contracts to lease mobile 

generators, specifically for prolonged power outages. 

• The National Energy Crisis Committee, a body run out of 

the president’s office, has proposed various measures such 

as importing energy from neighbouring countries, buying 

excess energy from private producers and developing 

emergency legislation to speed up approval and development 

of power plants. 

The country needs a clear way forward to address both the energy 

and water crises. These will not be solved overnight. They will require 

political will as well as making use of the knowledge and skills of 

experienced individuals within the various sectors to collectively 

develop a realistic and clear plan. It will require specific timelines 

and deliverables to address both crises: energy and water. 

* Anja du Plessis is an associate professor and research specialist 

in water resource management at the University of South Africa. 

MINISTER LAUNCHES LARGEST 

RESERVOIR IN THE COUNTRY 

In February 2023, the Department of Water and Sanitation 

Minister, Senzo Mchunu, officially launched the country’s 

largest 201-million-litres reservoir in Benoni. The Vlakfontein 

Reservoir is set to provide additional water storage and supply 

in areas east of Tshwane and the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan 

Municipality. The construction of the reservoir is the brainchild 

of the Department’s entity, Rand Water, as part of measures 

put into place by the utility’s strategies of refurbishing and 

augmenting water infrastructure. 

Speaking during the launch, Minister Mchunu dispelled public 

notions that the water sector is headed towards total collapse. 

“I accept that the country is facing challenges of power supply 

and I do understand the impact of this on water supply. But I do 

think that it is misleading to say that the water sector is heading 

towards that direction and is in shambles. That is incorrect,” 

he said. 

Minister Mchunu alluded to the extensive work which is 

being carried out by Rand Water in Gauteng and other parts 

of the country, which includes the implementation of the 

Infrastructure Development Planning which entails planning 

for the refurbishment and augmentation of infrastructure, and 

the implementation thereof. 

“The augmentation I am referring to includes expansion of 

potable production capacity at the river stations, as well as 

infrastructure that radiates away from river stations, that is 

pipework, pumps, reservoirs or associated automation and 

electrical infrastructure. When pipelines, pump stations and 

additional potable capacity at river stations are upgraded, 

outright additional capacity can be delivered to customers,” 

said Minister Mchunu. 

The Vlakfontein Reservoir was planned for and built by 

Rand Water as part of its augmentation strategy to maintain 

strategic storage capacity equivalent to 24-hour water demand, 

especially amid the current power supply challenges as 

experienced across the country. 

The reservoir will accommodate water demands supply 

in areas situated in the east of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni 

Metropolitan Municipality up to year 2035 and this is based on 

compounded growth rate of 2% for the areas. Construction of 

the reservoir began in May 2020 and is nearing completion with 

a set timeframe being April 2023 

Article courtesy The Conversation. 


energy 

S 

South African municipalities 

can play a key role in resolving 

the energy supply gap 

South Africa’s energy shortage is having a profound impact on its cities. Economic 

growth and jobs continue to be affected at a time when cities urgently need to recover 

from the Covid-19 crisis to retain their competitiveness and attractiveness. 

C 

Craig Kesson, PwC South Africa advisory partner and cities leader, 

says: “Resolving the energy shortfall requires a collective effort across 

private and public sectors, including, and especially, by municipalities 

who play a key role in the development of sustainable energy 

strategies. By playing a key role in resolving the energy supply 

gap, municipalities will be able to contribute to local economic 

development and job creation.” 

In its newly released report, “The cities’ role in managing the 

energy supply challenges”, PwC outlines what can be done in the 

municipal sphere to help fix the country’s energy shortage and 

discusses how these solutions can have potential revenue benefits 

for municipalities. 

In the report, PwC outlines seven immediate measures to help 

bridge the energy supply gap and end loadshedding in the short 

run. These solutions include municipalities: 

• Enabling wheeling of energy generation (both the infrastructure 

and the policy framework to deliver energy from generator to 

end-user through existing distribution or transmission). 

• Supporting the installation of microgrids and small-scale 

embedded generation. 

• Supporting the purchase of power from Independent Power 

Producers (IPPs). 

• Prioritising spending on repairs and maintenance of 

infrastructure, as well as protecting it. 

A VICIOUS CYCLE 

South African municipalities have a constitutional mandate to 

distribute electricity to citizens. They predominantly purchase power 

directly from state-owned energy utility Eskom, and distribute and 

sell power to consumers or reimburse Eskom for direct distribution 

to them. The on-sell of electricity is a key source of revenue for 

municipalities and has accounted for almost 30% of municipal 

revenues in recent years. Without this revenue stream, which often 

leaves municipalities with surplus funds, many are not able to crosssubsidise 

other debt and expenditure items. 

Nasreen Mosam, PwC South Africa international development 

partner, says: “This culminates in a cycle where the rising cost of 

electricity leads to rising prices for consumers. This in turn results 

in more people being unable to pay service charges. This further 

increases costs and reduces revenue for municipalities, increasing the 

negative impact on municipal finances. This means that providing 

key services such as public security, housing and maintaining public 

spaces is also affected.” 

WHAT CITIES CAN DO 

Despite the country’s current power challenges, municipalities can 

help resolve the energy supply gap. “Cities’ energy strategies will play 

a key role in achieving sustainability and energy stability in the long 

run,” Kesson says. “The ideal scenario would be for municipalities to 

purchase electricity from different suppliers in a competitive market 

at competitive prices, which will allow for resale at a surplus and 

transmission at lower cost to consumers. Efforts are underway to 

achieve this through the unbundling of Eskom and opening up of 

the energy market to competition from the private sector,” he says. 

Mosam says municipal efforts to close the energy supply gap and 

bring down energy prices can also set the course for sustainable 

municipal revenue sources to finance spending. 

Kesson says: “Ideally, we would see the private sector generate 

renewable energy and distribute it more cost-effectively to 

consumers through municipalities. Municipalities would have longterm 

contracts with private IPPs to purchase renewable electricity 

at guaranteed prices that are lower in a competitive market, and 

municipalities would win because they would obtain revenue for 

their role in distribution. 

“Consumers would win because electricity prices would likely 

come down in a competitive system. The lower cost of electricity 

and higher certainty of supply would contribute to a virtuous 

cycle of economic growth, rising property values, more customers 

paying accounts, more employment and greater socioeconomic 

development outcomes.” 

He says municipalities need to act now to mitigate supply gaps in 

the short run by putting in place the necessary policy frameworks, 

mobilising resources that will enable wheeling as well as re-entering 

small and medium scale generation into the municipal grid. Crucially, 

municipalities will also need to establish a long-term strategy 

regarding their own role in electricity provision going forward. This 

will include modelling the optimal mix of different energy sources 

needed to enhance supply and meet demand, as well as attracting 

and retaining strong, capable teams to accommodate the new skill sets 

required to operate in this market. 

This way, municipalities will be able to retain their role in energy 

generation and to be part of a sustainable energy solution that works 

for producers and consumers. S 


S 

water 

When crises collide: water is 

SA’s next “perfect storm” 

South Africa is, by some accounts, already “out” of water. In an already water-scarce country, 

demand outstrips supply, while water treatment plants falter and the country’s climate continues to 

warm at unprecedented – and deadly – rates. A perfect storm, experts warn, is coming. 

During the first decade of South Africa’s democracy, 13.4-million 

people gained access to basic water services. But a tap in a home or 

in the yard is no guarantee that clean water regularly flows through 

it. In some North West and Limpopo communities, dry pipes briefly 

spurt to life at 3am. Residents who do not set an alarm to collect 

water, go without. 

In the Free State, a good storm can send desperate families 

scrambling to put out buckets to catch the rain. Children will even 

scoop up pooling water with their hands to add to the haul. 

Meanwhile, the water tankers brought in by the government to fill 

gaps in service delivery in the province have become big business, 

the Mail & Guardian reported in 2022. 

South Africa’s demand for water now outstrips its supply. Water, 

of course, can be reused – but the country’s water infrastructure 

can no longer supply many communities with reliable access to safe 

drinking water. 

Wastewater treatment plants, meanwhile, dump raw sewage into 

waterways, probably fuelling upticks in disease. 

And Eskom’s decline is deepening the problem. 

SA USES MORE WATER THAN IT HAS 

Experts have spent more than a decade measuring the water South 

Africa has and comparing it to what it needs to fill the nation’s 

kettles, water its crops and mine its riches. 

By 2002, what South Africa used in water was already 

outstripping what it had, says Dr Anthony Turton, professor at 

the Centre for Environmental Management at the University 

of the Free State. In 2003, scientists believed South Africa 

possessed 53-billion cubic metres of water. Today, Turton says 

better modeling and declining rainfall have placed that figure at 

about 49-billion cubic metres. 

“After all considerations, it was discovered that we had allocated 

about 98% of all the water available in the country. Effectively 

we became water-deficient in 2002,” explains Turton. He warns 

that South Africa is transitioning to a fundamentally waterconstrained 

economy. Meanwhile, sewage management systems 

are collapsing and the country threatens to outstrip its capacity 

to process safe drinking water. 

Turton concludes: “The South African water sector is entering 

the early phase of a ‘perfect storm’ driven by the convergence of 

significant drivers over which no [one] individual has any control.” 

Unpurified river water in many parts 

of South Africa is used to 

water crops. 

But when it comes to water, it is not just about how much you 

have — it’s about how good it is. And what South Africa has, it is 

not very good at safeguarding. In the Department of Water and 

Sanitation’s latest drinking water report, more than 60% of water 

supply systems did not meet water quality standards. 

Meanwhile, 40% or more of water in Johannesburg and eThekwini is 

lost to leaks and theft before it ever reaches consumers. 

“South Africa is a water-scarce country, so we’re obviously 

affected by the semi-arid to arid climate,” explains Dr Anja du 

Plessis, a University of South Africa water expert. “But what 

we’re seeing now is what’s called ‘economic water scarcity’. 

In places like Johannesburg, you have the water supplies; 

however, you are experiencing shortages because of dilapidated 

infrastructure.” She continues: “[That] infrastructure is now 

collapsing under loadshedding.” 

Similarly, the most recent audits of wastewater treatment plants 

found that 100 were so poorly run that they posed a serious risk to 

public health and the environment. 

For instance, the South African Human Rights Commission found 

that broken Gauteng wastewater treatment plants have dumped 

so much raw sewage into the Vaal River that the waterway is now 

polluted beyond any acceptable measure. The Commission noted 

that raw sewage from these same plants had also found its way into 

nearby schools and homes. 

Our health turns on the health of rivers like the Vaal or the 

Orange, Turton says. 


water 

S 

Experts estimate that 40% or 

more of water in Johannesburg 

and eThekwini is lost to leaks and 

theft before it ever reaches consumers. 

“We used to dilute our pollution into the watercourses,” he says. “But 

we have so overloaded the rivers with five-billion litres of sewage 

daily that we have lost our dilution capacity.” 

He continues: “Today, the average citizen drinks water from the 

tap that has been processed from a sewage-contaminated river 

through technology that is broken and unable to safely process 

sewage to drinking quality standards. This affects everyone.” 

Unpurified river water in many parts of South Africa is used to 

water crops. A 2021 study funded by the Water Research Council 

found high levels of bacteria transmitted in the waste of animals and 

humans on surveyed fresh vegetables in Cape Town and Tshwane. 

The findings held true whether vegetables were purchased in 

supermarkets or from hawkers. 

PIPES FOR JOBS 

Efforts to fix South Africa’s water system have been hampered by 

weak local capacity and deep corruption. Municipalities, which Du 

Plessis says bear the biggest responsibility for clean water provision 

in the country, do not have the ability to fix the system. Each year, 

budgets to safeguard water supplies go unspent. 

“The inability to spend results in the misfortune of the current 

ageing infrastructure,” writes Department of Water and Sanitation 

Minister Senzo Mchunu in the department’s latest annual report. 

“Where some of the infrastructure may not be old, the dismal and 

inadequate maintenance, particularly of municipal infrastructure, 

remains an Achilles heel.” 

When municipalities can spend money to maintain or expand 

infrastructure, the department notes, projects can be waylaid by 

protests by local business forums and communities demanding jobs 

before projects can be completed. 

The department has pointed out that there are maintenance 

backlogs of more than R35.5-billion. 

WATER IN A HOTTER WORLD 

The average annual temperature in South Africa has increased by 

at least one degree celsius during the last 50 years, almost twice 

the global average, according to a 2021 study published in the 

journal Environmental Research. Temperatures in the country are 

projected to continue to rise at a greater rate than the global average. 

A child born in the next 20 years could grow old in a country that is 

up to six degrees hotter than average temperatures nearly a century 

before, the study warns. And heat can be deadly. 

The South African Medical Research Council’s Dr Caradee 

Wright says the recent deaths of farmworkers in the Northern 

Cape should be a warning. Emerging research also suggests 

that hotter temperatures may be linked with some types of birth 

defects, particularly holes in foetuses’ hearts. And as more homes 

go without steady access to water, the public health threats only 

grow, Wright warns. 

“When you don’t have continuous water supply, you store water,” 

she says, “and when you store water, you immediately start to run into 

trouble.” In many homes, families store water in open-air containers, 

often dipping in the same shared cup to collect water. With each 

cupful, new germs are introduced into bins that are rarely cleaned. 

In an environment like this, diarrhoeal disease – which can 

be deadly in small children, the elderly and people with weaker 

immune systems – can spread like wildfire. And the country’s 

health system – like its water infrastructure – may not be prepared 

to cope with new waves of disease that accompany a hotter, more 

water-scarce world. 

“Our healthcare systems and other structures that we have in 

place are not fully functioning for the majority of the country,” 

she says. “We’re starting from a bad baseline, and I can’t see how 

we’re going to cope.” S 

Article courtesy Daily Maverick. 


S 

water 

The state of our 

water and sanitation 

The Department of Water and Sanitation’s mandate as set out in the National Water Act (1998) 

and the Water Services Act (1997) is to ensure that the country’s water resources are managed, 

developed and conserved by supporting the delivery of effective water supply and sanitation. 

T 

The Department of Water and Sanitation 

(DWS) maintains the delivery of safe water 

and the effective management of wastewater 

by enforcing regulatory measures. To this 

end, the Blue Drop, Green Drop and No 

Drop standards are in place to improve asset 

management practices in municipalities. 

Over the medium-term period, DWS 

will support 32 district municipalities 

with developing reliability plans and 

will monitor the compliance of all water 

services authorities with regulatory 

standards. 

NATIONAL WATER AND 

SANITATION MASTERPLAN 

DWS is leading the initiative to develop 

a masterplan that is intended to guide 

the water sector with the delivery of 

water and sanitation services to 2030 and 

beyond. The core purpose of the plan is to 

provide and implement a comprehensive 

schedule of actions, as well as to facilitate 

integrated investment planning for 

effective services delivery. The masterplan 

allocates responsibilities to the various 

tiers of government, private sector and 

other stakeholders. 

NATIONAL WATER RESOURCES 

INFRASTRUCTURE AGENCY 

The agency leverages large-scale investments 

in national water resource infrastructure for 

sufficient bulk water supply. Augmentation 

interventions prevent bulk water shortages 

that exacerbate municipal water and 

sanitation service delivery. 

DRINKING WATER 

According to Stats SA, in 2021 the highest 

number of households provincially with tap 

water off- or onsite were found in Western 

Cape (99.4%), Gauteng (98.4%) and Free 

State (93.6%). Limpopo (69.4%) and Eastern 

Cape (71.0%) had the lowest ranks. An 

estimated 45.2% of households had access 

to piped water in 2021. A further 29.4% 

accessed water onsite, while 12.2% relied on 

communal taps, 1.9% on neighbours’ taps 

and 2.7% of households fetched water from 

natural sources. 

A total of 98.6% of households in 

metros had access to tap water, mostly 

in Cape Town (99.5%), Nelson Mandela 

Bay (99.2%) and Johannesburg (99.1%). 

Mangaung (92%) and eThekwini (97.7%) 

recorded the lowest numbers. 

Groundwater is the main source of water 

in the Karoo, Northern, Eastern and Western 

Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. 

LESOTHO HIGHLANDS 

WATER PROJECT 

After being delayed for several years, fullscale 

construction works for the R36-billion 

Lesotho Highlands Phase Two project will 

commence in 2023. Funded by the Trans- 

Caledon Tunnel Authority, the project has 

been implemented jointly by the Lesotho 

and South African governments, through 

the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission 

and Development Authority. The Lesotho 

project is critical for the security of 

water supply to Gauteng, Free State, 

Mpumalanga, North West and the Northern 

Cape and is due to start delivering water 

to Gauteng in 2027. 

PROVINCIAL PROJECTS 

DWS has developments at various stages in 

South Africa: 

Eastern Cape. The Mzimvubu Water 

Project provides water to 750 000 people at 

a cost of R25-billion. 

Free State. A R10-billion project to build 

a major pipeline from Xhariep Dam to 

augment water supply in Mangaung is 

in its feasibility stage. Project completion 

is due in 2028. DWS has implemented a 

R1.7-billion project to upgrade wastewater 

and water treatment works as well as water 

distribution networks in Maluti-A-Phofung 

for completion in 2025. 

KwaZulu-Natal. The raising of the 

Hazelmere Dam wall to preserve long-term 

water supply to eThekwini was expected 

to be finished in 2022 (at a cost of R800- 

million). The construction of the uMkhomazi 

Water Project, aimed at delivering long-term 

additional water to eThekwini at a cost of 

R23-billion, is due to start in 2025 and 

completed by 2028. 

Limpopo. In 2022, DWS officially 

launched the R24-billion Olifants River 

Water Resources Development Project, 

implemented by the transformed 

Lebalelo Water Users Association as a 

public-private collaboration with mining 

companies (each fund 50% of the 

project). Water delivery to communities 

and mines will be fast-tracked and ready 

by 2028. 

Mpumalanga. The R1.2-billion 

Thembisile-Loskop Bulk Water Supply 

project will address water supply challenges 

in the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality 

and will be implemented over a three-year 

period from 2022. 

Northern Cape. The first phase of the Vaal 

Gamagara Water Supply Scheme, critical for 

mining and potable water supply, cost R1.4- 

billion. Phase 2 was expected to start in 2022 

at an estimated R10-billion. 

North West. In 2022, DWS commissioned 

the Moretele South Pipeline (60km) to be 

operated and maintained by Magalies 

Water and will benefit the Moretele Local 

Municipality. 

Western Cape. To increase water security 

on the West Coast area of Cederberg, DWS 

started elevating the Clanwilliam Dam 

wall at a cost of R3.2-billion. Construction 

is due to be completed in 2026. The 

department is executing the R21-million 

Brandvlei Dam project, which involves the 


water 

S 

construction of a feeder canal that will 

provide an additional 33Ml of water for 

storage in the dam. 

ENTITIES 

Consolidated water boards. Water boards 

were established in terms of the Water 

Services Act to provide bulk potable 

and wastewater to their respective water 

service institutions. The boards support 

municipalities by providing, managing 

and operating regional bulk water services 

infrastructure. They vary in activity, 

customer mix, revenue base and capacity. 

Some boards provide retail services on 

behalf of municipalities. 

Rand Water. Established in terms of the 

Water Services Act, Rand Water is mandated 

to provide quality bulk potable water within 

its area of supply. Its distribution network 

includes 3 056km of large-diameter 

pipelines feeding 58 strategically located 

service reservoirs, with customers including 

metropolitan and local municipalities as 

well as mines and industries in Gauteng, 

supplying on average 3.7-million litres of 

water daily. 

Umgeni Water. Established in terms 

of the Water Services Act to supply water 

to approximately six-million consumers 

mostly in the rural areas of KwaZulu- 

Natal and eThekwini. 

Magalies Water. Provides quality bulk 

water and secondary services directly 

to municipalities, mines and other 

industries. Raw water is drawn from 

rivers which flow into dams owned by 

DWS. Magalies Water buys the water 

from the four water-treatment plants and 

provides municipalities, which draw the 

water through the reservoir and sells it 

to consumers. 

Bloem Water. Established in 1991 

to operate the Caledon/Bloemfontein 

Government Water Scheme and to 

supply water to the municipal areas of 

Bloemfontein, Bainsvlei, Bloemspruit, 

Botshabelo and Dewetsdorp. 

Amatola Water. Established in 1998 to 

provide bulk- and basic water services to the 

Eastern Cape. 

Mhlathuze Water. Supplied by 

three dominant water sources in the 

uMkhanyakude, King Cetshwayo and 

Zululand district municipalities and 

has plans for expansion. 

Lepelle Northern Water. Lepelle Northern 

Water’s mandate is to provide bulk 

water to water services authorities within 

Limpopo, serving over three-million 

people and major industrial users. Lepelle 

partners with DWS in implementing 

conservation, demand management and 

groundwater exploration to augment 

surface water. 

Overberg Water. Overberg Water 

distributes water to the surrounding 

and rural areas of Cape Agulhas, 

Theewaterskloof and Swellendam. It has 

three water-treatment schemes with 22 

reservoirs that are strategically located across 

the Overberg region. The organisation 

distributes approximately four-million cubic 

metres of water per year in the region with a 

pipeline network estimated at 1 450km. 

OTHER ENTITIES 

• The Breede-Gouritz Catchment 

Management Agency, established in 

terms of the National Water Act, plays 

an important role in protecting, using, 

developing, conserving, managing 

and controlling water resources 

in a cooperative manner within its 

catchment area. 

• The Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment 

Management Agency (established in 

2004 in terms of the National Water Act) 

plays a key role in the use, protection and 

development of water resources in the 

Inkomati-Usuthu area. 

• The Water Research Commission, 

established in terms of the Water 

Research Act, is mandated to conduct 

research, enhance knowledge, build 

capacity; and promote the effective 

transfer of information and technology 

in the water sector. 

• The Water Trading Entity converted 

into a trading entity in terms of the 

Public Finance Management Act in 2008. 

Its primary role is to manage water 

infrastructure and resources. 

• The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, 

established in 1986 as a specialised 

liability management entity, derives 

its mandate from the National 

Water Act. It is responsible for the 

development of bulk raw water 

infrastructure and providing treasury 

management services to DWS and 

water boards. S 

SONA 2023: WATER 

The reliable supply of water is essential 

for the wellbeing of people and the 

growth of the economy. To ensure 

water security now and into the 

future, DWS is leading the process 

of investing in major infrastructure 

projects across the country. 

CONSTRUCTION OF DAMS 

Several decades after it was 

proposed, the first phase of the 

Umzimvubu Water Project will start 

in the next financial year. This phase, 

which involves construction of the 

Ntabelanga Dam, as well as irrigation 

infrastructure and the distribution of 

water to communities will be financed 

by government. The next phase will be 

construction of the Lilane Dam, which 

will include a hydropower station. Major 

projects to increase the capacity of the 

Clanwilliam, Hazelmere and Tzaneen 

dams will improve the supply of 

water to the West Coast, eThekwini 

and eastern part of Limpopo. 

WATER-USE LICENCES 

In 2022, goverment announced a 

comprehensive turnaround plan to 

streamline the process for water-use 

licence applications to facilitate greater 

investment. Since then, government 

has cleared the backlog of water-use 

licences and reduced the turnaround 

time for applications to 90 days. 


S 


The model for delivering water 

and sanitation must be revised 

Rand Water CE Sipho Mosai explains that adding more water to the system will not be 

enough to future-proof it. New methods and ways of thinking are required. 

W 

Water has become one of the foremost modern-day challenges in 

this early part of the third millennium. This is because the era of 

free drinking water in unlimited quantities is over. During recent 

decades, a combination of human demographics and human activity 

has in many global regions transformed water from an abundant 

element to a scarce resource. The water shortages that have affected 

thousands of people in Gauteng are a “perfect storm” that is 

developing into a hurricane. 

Taps have run dry in several suburbs for weeks, with high-lying 

areas worst hit because of rolling blackouts that affect the pumping of 

water, major infrastructural backlogs and increased demand because 

of hot temperatures. Notably, water service is mostly dependent on 

infrastructure availability and a perfect equilibrium between water 

demand and the system’s capacity to meet both average and peak 

demands. There is an urgent need to put water higher on the 

country’s agenda. 

Various water problems are escalating at a rapid rate. The 

country is water scarce because of its arid to semi-arid climate and 

Rand Water Chief Executive, Sipho Mosai. 

below-average annual rainfall of 465mm compared with the global 

annual average of 860mm. It is ranked the 40th-driest country in 

the world. Secondly, the management of water consumption has 

been poor. South Africa is a water-scarce country, yet the average 

domestic water use is estimated at 237 litres per person per day, 

64 litres higher than the international benchmark of 173 litres 

per person per day. 

SYSTEM CONSTRAINTS 

In the entire value chain, there is so much that the system or 

infrastructure can provide. Future water requirements by 

municipalities, industry and other water consumers will affect 

the current and future demand for water. Statistics South Africa’s 

growth estimates further bolster this figure. In turn, the future 

needs to dictate the requirements for infrastructure upgrades 

and refurbishments upstream and midstream of the value. 

The bulk water infrastructure midstream within the value 

chain is designed for average water consumption and peak 

water demands of about 35 000 megalitres a week. What does 

this mean? If water demand is of typical consumption (4 400 

megalitres in 2021/22), then the system can provide water 

with relative ease. Hence, in most instances, every household 

receives water without exception. If peak water usage exceeds 

Rand Water’s purifying output, municipal water is drawn from 

reservoirs. The reservoirs at municipal level dry out quickly as a 

result of excessive use. Because Rand Water continues to pump 

at optimum capacity, water will continue to be delivered to lowlying 

areas regardless. 

The irregular water supply in the high-lying areas is aggravated 

by intermittent power outages and loadshedding. Pumping and 

reservoir filling are impossible without a steady supply of electricity. 

In the event that there is no electricity to operate pumps 

and water usage rises to the point that reservoirs are depleted, 

high-lying areas will be left without water. The final segment 

of the value chain (downstream) lies under the purview of 

municipalities known as water services authority. Municipalities 

draw water from Rand Water’s reservoirs and distribute it 

to individual residences and various other customers 

through a system of their own pipes and reservoirs. 

Non-revenue water, notably physical water losses 

because of ageing infrastructure, is the greatest 

impediment that characterises the value chain, 

particularly in the downstream. Municipal physical 

water losses range between 20% and 30% (1 000 to 

1 500 million litres of water a day when Rand Water 

is pumping at maximum capacity). In a water-scarce 



S 

In the next five years, Rand Water will invest R30-billion to expand 

its network of pipes and reservoirs. As part of this plan, Rand Water 

inaugurated a 210-million-litre storage reservoir in February. 

Lastly, the water and sanitation delivery model must entirely be 

revised in order to provide long-term and sustainable water services. 

Revenue generated from paying customers of water and sanitation 

must be ring-fenced for infrastructure operations, maintenance, 

renovation and augmentation. I believe that the current structural 

arrangement should be revised and be replaced by new utilities that 

will operate the full value chain from abstraction to reticulation. 

Governance and funding mechanisms can be developed to ensure 

that these utilities are successful and sustainable. S 

Sedimentation tanks at Zuikerbosch Purification Plant. 

nation that imports the majority of its raw water, this quantity 

of water is enormous. 

With the purpose of addressing the distribution of water, local 

governments should make significant investments. Sadly, the sector 

does not spend enough on water conservation and demandmanagement 

methods to turn the situation around as quickly as 

possible. The expansion of cities and towns necessitates substantial 

future investments to not only reduce water loss but also free up 

additional water to meet the water needs of future urban growth. 

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 

As water consumers, we must conserve water and change our 

behaviour to reflect our situation. We should resist the temptation to 

fill swimming pools and irrigate our lawns with potable water during 

periods of extreme heat. During high-level peaks of loadshedding 

and heat waves avoiding these will considerably improve water 

supply for all. 

Secondly, local municipalities must prioritise non revenue water. 

This will also aid in reducing wastage by paying for water that is 

not used. To maintain water-supply sustainability and reliability, 

infrastructure upgrades and refurbishments must receive sufficient 

funding. By the end of 2023, Rand Water will have added 600-million 

litres of water per day to the system. 

Inlet pipe to flocculators at Zuikerbosch. 


S 

utilities 

Non-payment for water 

services is reaching a crisis point 

TRand Water is growing and investing in infrastructure but its financial viability 

is threatened by cumulative municipal debt of R5.8-billion. 

The Rand Water Board is a significant institution in the water 

sector and the country’s economy. It is a strategic institution that is 

investing and building formidable infrastructure for water provision 

to Africa’s largest regional economy. The entity played a significant 

historical role in helping to make Johannesburg and Gauteng the 

formidable economic hub that it has become, supplying the early 

gold mining companies with the water and sound infrastructure 

they needed to thrive in their time. 

The entity has grown and has adjusted from one decade to the 

next, the result of strong leadership and capable management 

supported by technical professionals that have been nurtured 

and harnessed over many years. It is also important to note that 

domestic and commercial water users have always been able to 

help sustain the running of this great South African entity. As a 

result, Rand Water in recent years, has been contributing greatly 

to finding and sharing water and infrastructure solutions on the 

African continent, as an equal partner and strategic contributor to 

the knowledge economy. 

The organisation’s performance indicates that it is currently on 

solid ground. Over the last three years, Rand Water Board revenue 

has been growing modestly. The entity also continues to invest in 

infrastructure expansion and in supplying drinkable water quality 

to its customers. 

A CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT 

There are challenges in the business environment, which include: 

• non-payment by users resulting in a huge debt book 

• failure of municipalities in Gauteng to pay for water delivery 

• slow payments 

• National economic slowdown due to global conditions 

• inability of customers to pay for water services to municipalities. 

Some of the economic impact outlined above is as a result of job 

losses due to the economic impact of Covid-19. 

Despite these issues, Rand Water has continuously shown 

resilience in its performance, posting excellent results. The critical 

operational ratios demonstrate that the organisation is doing well. 

Revenue is growing year on year. In the financial year 2022/23, the 

entity performed above set targets, income grew by R17-million, 

which represented 51% growth. Net income was up by R576-million 

compared to the previous financial year. Irregular expenditure was 

reduced from R110-million to R3.35-million. 

The Rand Water Board received an unqualified audit opinion for 

the year, commendable for an organisation of this kind. Maintaining 

a clean audit and good credit rating is good for fundraising and 

in the bond market. On project implementation, the Rand Water 

Board has performed well. Having set itself a target of achieving 

95% project completion by the end of the financial year, the target 

was exceeded with 115.8%. 

UPWARD TREND 

This upward trend in achievement is also seen with other targets 

such as employment creation and the black empowerment 

programme of the organisation. The repair and maintenance of 

assets has also been attended to. This is critical as an assurance to 

the investors and the citizens of the province and South Africa that 

the Water Board does look after its assets and the longevity of the 

investment and assurance of supply is guaranteed. It is important 

to remember that the policy of the national government is to keep 

this economy at 99% assurance of water supply. 

Rand Water is one of the strong water-sector entities that is giving 

this government and Africa’s biggest economic hub that benefit and 

a strategic guarantee. Also, the entity has assured the citizens that 


utilities 

S 

there will be no Day Zero in Gauteng province. Additionally, Rand 

Water is able to continuously invest in the building of infrastructure. 

According to its latest annual report, Rand Water has promised to 

invest R25-billion. This is good news for any investor who wants to 

build a business in Gauteng. 

THREATS TO THE GOOD STORY 

The Rand Water Board has a good story to tell, but this may be 

threatened, not because of how the entity operates or drives its 

business but due to the externalities and operational environment 

beyond the Water Board’s control. For instance, economic forces 

that are currently at play can present risks. All water boards have 

municipalities as their main customers. A total 80% of Rand Water’s 

revenue comes from Gauteng municipalities as they are all supplied 

by the body. These municipalities currently owe the water board 

R5.8-billion. This has an adverse impact on the finances of the entity. 

This could have assisted in alleviating the debt burden on projects. 

Measures must be put in place to collect outstanding debt. If 

this is achieved, Rand Water can improve and expand its water 

infrastructure. If this is not diligently managed, it may pose a 

huge risk to the body’s liquidity and cause the entity to fail in 

managing to service its loans. This could cause a mismatch of 

assets and liabilities resulting in a bad credit rating. The global 

pandemic had a huge negative economic impact and the Rand 

Water Board was not spared. 

The closure of companies, production reduction and 

retrenchments caused cash flows to stall and this had a ripple 

impact on downstream clients. In Gauteng, the inability of 

big municipalities to pay the board on time was noted and 

this phenomenon has continued despite the reopening of the 

economy following the end of the pandemic. For instance, 

Ekurhuleni pays in 59 days with consumption growth of 3% 

year-on-year. Tshwane payment is in 56 days, its consumption 

growing by 58%. The City of Johannesburg Municipality 

must be commended for honouring their invoices on time. 

Johannesburg must find R61-billion to refurbish its collapsing 

infrastructure to manage its water losses from old infrastructure. 

Emfuleni payment is now at 237 days, down from 3 365 days and 

consumption is growing by 14% year on year. 

The overdue amount to Rand Water is R676-million and 

arrangements have been put in place to settle this debt. 

INFRASTRUCTURE EXPENDITURE CONTINUES 

Despite these challenges, the Rand Water Board is still able to 

spend R3-billion per annum to maintain infrastructure and meet 

its obligations. It is anticipated that in the next five years the 

Water Board is likely to spend multiple billions on infrastructure 

investment. This is commendable in that the infrastructure 

rollout is keeping pace with the province’s demands due to rapid 

population growth, economic development and other major 

activities. Rand Water’s strategy aims to ensure that it stays on 

this path to match the demand of its market. 

However, the time has come to start to proactively find 

approaches that protect it from elements that are detrimental to 

its operations. 

Gauteng and the country need this entity to keep working 

continuously to maintain its infrastructure and delivery of water to 

its consumers. The Water Board aims to have a positive impact on 

the business environment in which it operates. It must continue to 

strengthen its work with the municipalities, including joint activities 

which will encourage a payment culture for water and other services. 

Rand Water is a catalyst for economic growth. It must succeed. S 

Weltevreden Reservoir, (interior). 

Carbonation bay at Zuikerbosch Purification Plant. 


S 


What municipalities can do to 

promote efficient water delivery 

If municipalities can reduce water loss, water-demand volumes will return to levels where Rand Water’s purification systems 

can deliver. Rand Water also identifies here the major supply interruption factors hampering effective water purification and 

primary pumping. 

Rand Water has been part of the economic success story of the 

greater Johannesburg area almost from the time that gold was 

discovered. Unlike many cities that are located near water, it was 

gold that caused the city to be built. 

The first residents and the industries which developed in support 

of the gold-mining industry were a long way from water. 

The nearest water source is the Vaal River and several dams have 

been constructed along that water course to supply the large urban 

and peri-urban population that has grown up around Johannesburg. 

Rand Water has supplied those people – and farmers and other 

small-scale water users – reliably for a long time. 

The dams along the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) to 

supplement the Vaal Dam are the Woodstock and Sterkfontein 

Dams in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State provinces, the 

Grootdraai Dam in Mpumalanga and the Katse and Mohale Dams 

in the Kingdom of Lesotho. 

Droughts are a frequent feature of the South African climate, 

some lasting more than four years. South Africa is the 30th-driest 

country in the world. Climate change has added to the challenges 

faced by water authorities and so consumers must not be lulled into 

a false sense of security when dams are full. 

Inlet pipe to flocculators at Zuikerbosch. 

HIGH CONSUMPTION CREATES SUPPLY BOTTLENECKS 

Municipalities can play a role in helping to reduce demand for water, 

thus reducing the pressure on water supply. 

The Annual Average Daily Demand (AADD) of 4 600Ml/d, 

is within the Rand Water treatment capacity of 5 000Ml/d. The 

AADD is derived from municipal estimates of annual demand. If 

consumption increases demand above the treatment capacity of 

Rand Water treatment then problems arise. 

National water consumption per capita per day is 233 litresper-person 

against an international standard of 173 litres. Some 

municipalities have water losses up to 40%. This is against the 

figure of just 6.5% for Rand Water. Reduction in water losses 

will reduce the water demand volume which, in turn, will result 

in the reduction in per capita consumption. 

INTERRUPTION FACTORS 

The major supply interruption factors for effective water purification 

and primary pumping are as follows: 

Absence of alternative power supply. Zuikerbosch is supplied by 

Eskom and is protected by an agreement not to be loadshed other 

than to save the grid. There are negotiations with Emfuleni for a 

similar agreement. 

Project execution postponements. Rand Water has streamlined 

compliance and procurement procedures that have delayed 

execution of capital projects, maintenance, procurement of spares 

and emergencies such as plant breakdowns. 

Old infrastructure/plant capacity: Maximo is used for planned 

maintenance, repairs and refurbishments. Capex projects are 

executed on a five-year business plan cycle. A 600Ml/d plant will 

be commissioned early in 2024 to increase the capacity of the 

Zuikerbosch plant. 

TREATING FOR SAFETY 

Treatment of raw water must be done to the highest standards for 

safety reasons. Rand Water has two water treatment plants (WTP) 

that are situated in Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM). The 

plants are the Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant (ZWTP) and the 

Vereeniging Water Treatment Plant (VWTP). 

Raw water is abstracted from the upper part of the Vaal River 

and pumped to the VWTP for purification. Raw water is also 

abstracted from the Vaal Dam and transferred to the ZWTP 

for purification purposes. The same process of purification 

is followed at the two plants. The raw water is transferred to 

the ZWTP through a canal. It is then processed through the 

screens to catch any visible dirt such as leaves, tree branches or 



S 

any other undesirable objects that have the potential to obstruct 

the process. 

Turbidity is the measure of dirt contamination in water. When 

water is received from the Vaal Dam, it can have a turbidity of 60 

Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU), a low figure, or 160 NTU, 

a very high figure. The higher turbidity requires the use of more 

chemicals to ensure that the water is purified to meet the SANS 

241 Standards. Rand Water purifies water to below 0.5 NTU against 

the South African National Standards (SANS) of 1 NTU. SANS is 

the South African Standard for measuring acceptable water quality 

for consumption. The 0.5 NTU is a stricter standard used by the 

World Health Organization (WHO). The treatment process consists 

of seven stages, namely: coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, 

carbonation, filtration, chlorination and pumping. 

Coagulation is the mixing of water with crushed lime to produce 

liquid lime. This is done to destroy bacteria and/or algae to stabilise 

water. The flocculator mixes water and milk of lime at high energy so 

that solids form clusters or flocs. In this process the particles attract 

each other to form visible flocs floating on top of the water. The 

flocculator has a spiral shape so that it can circulate water first at 

high energy, gradually slowing down as the spiral flocculator widens 

in diameter and the flocs formulated sink to the floor when entering 

the sedimentation tank. 

Sludge is formed when the sedimentation tank draws the flocs 

down to settle at the bottom of the tank. The clean water still on top 

of the tank drains through the launders into the flume so that it 

flows to the carbonation bay. The bridges on the sedimentation tank 

drain the sludge from the bottom of the sedimentation tank which 

is eventually pumped to the drying beds in the Panfontein sludge 

plant. The clean water is then gravitated through carbonation bays 

to the Filter House. 

At the carbonation bay, carbon dioxide (CO 2 

) is added to water 

from the sedimentation tank to reduce pH to 8.6 for safe drinking 

water. The next stage is the filtration process. 

At the Filter House water is passed through fine sand in a 

slow process that can take two hours. The process of filtration 

is designed to capture small living organisms. The Filter House 

is kept dark to prevent the growth of algae. At this stage the 

turbidity is at 0.5 NTU or below. 

The Chlorine House hosts the next stage. The chlorine cylinders 

containing liquid chlorine and gas chlorine at the top of the cylinder 

are used for disinfection. This stage is designed to kill germs that may 

be invisible and may have escaped the purification process. Pumping 

of potable water in the Engine Rooms signals the final process. Water 

is pumped to an elevation of 380 metres to reach Rand Water’s four 

booster stations. These are the Eikenhof, Zwartkopjes, Palmiet and 

Mapleton Pumping Stations. 

Water quality is measured by monitoring water quality 

determinants. Over and above the online monitoring system, twohourly 

samples are taken 24 hours a day to monitor the accuracy 

of the online instruments calibration. Each Rand Water site has 

its own site laboratories and oversees the online monitoring 

system. The sites monitor mainly four elements, that is: turbidly, 

chlorine, calcium carbonate precipitation potential (CCPP) and 

pH. A laboratory within the Scientific Services Division, which 

is independent from Operations, monitors various water quality 

ABOUT RAND WATER 

Africa’s biggest bulk water utility meets and exceeds exacting 

standards. Rand Water provides bulk potable water to more 

than 11-million people in the South African provinces of 

Gauteng, Mpumalanga, the Free State and North West – an 

area that stretches over 18 000km 2 . Rand Water customers 

include metropolitan municipalities, local municipalities, mines 

and large industries. Rand Water has a global reputation for 

providing water of high quality that ranks among the best in the 

world and consistently meets and exceeds national standards 

and international guidelines on water quality. The strategic 

objectives of Rand Water include achieving growth, operational 

integrity and a culture of high-performance. Rand Water uses 

best-fit technology and positively engages with its stakeholder 

base to maintain financial health and sustainability. 

The Filter House at Zuikerbosch. 

determinants to cross check data from Operations and monitor 

water quality at the tap. This demanding purification process is 

conducted to make sure that Rand Water supplies its customers 

with drinking water of world-class quality. 

CONCLUSION 

Rand Water does not receive any subsidy from the national 

government. Funding is derived purely by the water it sells. 

The client base is primarily municipalities and it is at that level 

that water losses can be reduced. Through sensible measures, 

cooperation and awareness, a situation can be reached where 

reasonable water tariffs are charged across the board. This will 

create satisfied customers and consumers and contribute to water 

security for South Africa. S 

Contact 

Tel: +27 11 682 0911 

Customer Service Centre: 0860 10 10 60 

Email: customerservice@randwater.co.za 

Website: www.randwater.co.za 


S 

waste 

The national waste 

management strategy 

How a country manages its waste is a fundamental indicator of the extent to which 

that society is functional and being managed in a sustainable manner. 

T 

The implementation of the National Waste 

Management Strategy must have a positive 

impact on the lives of all South Africans 

through shared socio-economic growth 

and development, says Minister of Forestry, 

Fisheries and the Environment. 

The 2020 strategy is an update of the 

2011 strategy and builds on the successes 

and lessons from the implementation of that 

strategy. The National Waste Management 

Strategy (NWMS) provides government 

policy and strategic interventions for the 

waste sector and is aligned and responsive to 

the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 

of Agenda 2030 adopted by all United 

Nations member states. It is also responsive 

to South Africa’s National Development 

Plan: Vision 2030, which is our country’s 

specific response to and integration of 

the SDGs into our overall socio-economic 

development plans. 

The NWMS 2020 addresses the challenges 

and gaps identified in the 2011 strategy. 

Given that this strategy was developed at 

the onset of the sixth term of democratic 

administration in the country, its revision 

has also taken into account the national 

and Medium-Term Strategic Framework 

(MTSF) priorities outlined for the five years 

comprising the term of administration. 

Most importantly, the 2020 strategy 

has the concept of a “circular economy” 

at its centre. The circular economy is an 

approach to minimising the environmental 

impact of economic activity by reusing and 

recycling processed materials to minimise 

(a) the need to extract raw materials from 

the environment and (b) the need to 

dispose of waste. 

The circular economy is built on 

innovation and the adoption of new 

approaches and techniques in product 

design, production, packaging and use – 

industrial symbiosis, for instance, is a way of 

preventing waste in industrial production 

by redirecting waste from one production 

process to serve as raw materials for another 

production process. 

In line with the outcome-based planning 

approach of government, the strategy is 

premised on three pillars which will see 

a future South Africa with zero waste in 

landfills, cleaner communities, well-managed 

and financially stable waste services as well 

as a culture of zero tolerance of pollution, 

litter and illegal dumping. 

The government priorities will be achieved 

through waste minimisation; effective 

and sustainable waste services as well as 

compliance, enforcement and awareness. 

Collectively, the outcomes, strategic pillars, 

interventions and actions consolidate and 

build on the eight overarching goals of the 

2011 strategy. 

SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS 

1. Addressing the role of vulnerable 

groups, waste pickers and the informal 

sector and supporting women, youth 

and people living with disabilities in the 

circular economy. 

2. Promoting approaches to the design 

of products and packaging that reduce 

waste or encourage reuse, repair and 

preparation for recycling as well as 

support markets for source-separated 

recyclables. 

3. Investigating potential regulatory or 

economic interventions to increase 

participation rates in residential 

separation at source programmes. 

4. Investing in the economies associated 

with transporting recyclables to waste 

processing facilities. 

5. Addressing the skills gap within the 

sector with a special focus on women, 

youth and people living with disabilities. 

6. Engagement with the National Treasury 

regarding the operational expenditures 

for municipalities associated with 

implementing the NWMS and the 

Waste Act. 

Additionally, the NWMS 2020 provides 

an enabling environment for the projects 

identified in the 2017 Operation Phakisa 

Chemicals and Waste Economy (CWE). 

The CWE, as part of a cross-sector 

national planning process, intended to 

identify and support the implementation 

of projects in each sector of the economy 

that will contribute to national goals for 

sustainable economic growth, job creation 

and social transformation. 

The strategy comes at a time when 

there is growing knowledge and awareness 

of the environmental consequences of 

human activity in relation to climate and 

environmental pollution. The widespread 

impact of plastic packaging on our coasts, 

rivers and wetlands is a cause for great 

concern. The NWMS 2020 outlines a 

strategic approach to reduce littering 

and illegal dumping, and to reduce the 

production of single-use plastics such 

as food wrappers, disposable cups and 

straws that are currently destroying our 

marine habitats. 

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and 

the Environment, Barbara Creecy. 


waste 

S 

The Stellenbosch Network Smart Township #Ideasforchange challenge is 

an ideation competition on the hunt for new solutions to help transform 

Kayamandi into South Africa’s first smart township. 

THE SMART TOWNSHIP CHALLENGE 2023 

By Cebelihle Mthethwa 

The success of the NWMS 2020 depends on 

the extent to which it finds a foothold in local 

and provincial government and the private 

sector. But the government and business 

can’t solve the problems with waste on their 

own. Increasing recycling rates to promote 

the circular economy depends on consumer 

behaviour change, such as separating waste 

at source – something which all South 

Africans should be practising. 

The revised NWMS seeks to build on 

existing initiatives in schools and draw 

on community-based organisations 

and NGOs to help in cleaning up our 

communities and reducing the carbon 

footprint of our economy by correct 

disposal and recycling of waste. 

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries 

and the Environment, (DFFE) looks 

forward to working with you in taking 

forward the goals of this important 

national strategy for waste management 

which is promoting the waste hierarchy 

and the circular economy principles. S 

The challenge was born from the partnership with various stakeholders, 

including Lunttu, which is an initiative by Wesley Diphoko, who grew up in Kayamandi 

and sees technology and digital skills as a catalyst to transform the township into an 

inclusive micro-economy just like the newest winners of the challenge. 

Chuma Lalendle and Sbahle Mgijima walked away with the R20 000 cash prize 

following the introduction of their Smart Trolley Recycling solution to minimise the 

overflow of landfills and encourage a recycling culture in Kayamandi. With such 

immense volumes of waste arising, with landfills being the most popular end-resort, 

the need for authorities to provide adequate waste treatment and disposal services 

has become ever more important. 

It’s difficult to be ignorant in seeing the 

backward system that we grow up in. 

“Being born and raised in Kayamandi at some point, we, as the youth – the future 

leaders – need to take the initiative. If there is an opportunity for us to step up and make 

the change that we want to see, then we should grab it and run with it,” says Mgijima. 

According to Lalendle, the two met at a Smart Kayamandi workshop, hosted by 

Stellenbosch Network and Lunttu, and with their passion for sustainable community 

projects, the two came up with Smart Trolley Recycling. 

Lalendle notes: “Through a needs-assessment and observation, we have discovered 

that the system of waste pickers is rather informal, and the physical labour is 

strenuous and tedious. The aim is to formalise it by creating a product whereby 

the Smart Trolley functions independently, making the whole process a much more 

pleasant experience for waste pickers. The idea is to improve the collection process 

of waste pickers in Kayamandi and get the community involved in recycling to foster 

a responsible green community.” 

The project has three beneficiaries: the waste collectors that go into household bins 

before the municipal waste removal arrives, the households within Kayamandi and 

the Stellenbosch Municipality. 

Although the bright-eyed entrepreneurs have a promising vision for Kayamandi, they 

are also wary of the milestones they must reach regarding getting the municipality’s 

buy-in, as the project aims to incentivise households that adhere to the culture of 

recycling. These envisioned incentives will compromise of electricity units, data, 

coffee vouchers etc. 

Lalendle and Mgijima add that technology will play a pivotal role in the inception of 

their project, as the Smart Trolley is created based on technology, using tech advances 

to create an efficient trolley. The trolley will include a power assist function, to enable 

efficiency when the primary stakeholders (waste collectors) push the waste, and it will 

have compartments, to sort the different types of waste. The team wanted to better 

enable people already in the waste collection system through innovation and technology. 

“The Stellenbosch Network has done exceptional work in spreading the word about 

our innovative idea to the rest of Stellenbosch. Our next step is to focus on getting 

funding to further our dream of making Kayamandi a Smart Township,” Lalendle and 

Mgijima conclude. 


S 

skills development 

Learnerships: a business hack 

for SA companies 

Economic growth in South Africa is desperately needed, but this requires job creation and skills development to 

meet our current and future needs. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through learnerships. 

By Daniel Orelowitz, managing director at Training Force 

A 

An integrated skills development intervention, learnerships are 

aimed at promoting growth in employment and facilitating capacity 

building across sectors to address scarce and critical skills shortages. 

Learnerships are attractive for businesses since a Broad-Based 

Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) score and tax benefits 

are available; however, managing these programmes can be a 

massive undertaking. Here, it is advisable for companies to partner 

with an accredited training provider to sidestep the system while 

gaining all the B-BBEE and tax benefits with none of the associated 

administrative and compliance burdens. 

In short, outsourcing their learnership programmes is the 

business hack every company needs to embrace in 2023. 

WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL ABOUT LEARNERSHIPS? 

Currently managed by the Sector Education and Training 

Authorities (SETAs), learnerships are directly related to occupations 

and roles. They provide a pathway that leads individuals through to 

accredited National Qualifications Framework (NQF) qualifications. 

Learnerships ensure that more people are trained for a specific 

working environment and businesses benefit from having a more 

skilled and experienced workforce. 

Through such skills development programmes, learners are 

now able to further their education while employers contribute 

to the establishment of a pool of skilled labour that can either 

be absorbed permanently into their organisations or redirected 

to be of benefit elsewhere in the industry. 

In a format that combines structured learning with hands-on 

work experience, learnerships are key to ensuring that individuals 

are equipped with the theoretical knowledge necessary to work in 

their field and the practical know-how necessary to secure a job in 

that field. As attractive as the business benefits of learnerships may 

be, companies generally must source eligible candidates and have 

them vetted and onboarded, all of which direct time and resources 

from other core functions of the organisation. 

DEVELOPING ESSENTIAL SKILLS 

An experienced training provider can step in here and take on the 

recruitment, enrolment and management of the right candidates for 

the company’s learnerships. As training and employee development 

specialists, it is their core business to help their clients align with 

the requirements of learnership programmes, such as the Youth 

Employment Service (YES) programme. 

This learnership programme provides the company with exceptional 

B-BBEE benefits, while greatly assisting to close the skills gap in the 

HIGHER EDUCATION LAUNCHES BLENDED LEARNING 

CHIETA, the chemical industry’s education and training authority, 

embarked on the implementation of a pilot project: blended 

learning approach through a coded welding skills programme 

that explored face-to-face, online, welding simulation and 

practical learning in line with technology’s trajectory worldwide. 

The pilot project accommodated 115 students at six TVET 

colleges in four provinces and is part of CHIETA’s ongoing drive 

to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Yershen Pillay, 

CHIETA’s CEO, says the blended learning approach is also an 

indirect response to an instruction from the Department of Higher 

Education, Science and Innovation for SETAs to revise their 

skills development initiatives. 

Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation 

Buti Manamela states that the challenges presented by the 

pandemic created opportunities for training service providers 

to accelerate digital-based skills development strategies. 

These strategies were envisioned to re-skill, trans-skill and 

up-skill large numbers of workers to take up opportunities within 

existing enterprises or start new businesses and co-operatives. 

Manamela explains that the project provides the TVET colleges 

with the opportunity to improve the quality of their training, while 

also ensuring that recommendations on the implementation of a 

blended learning approach can be developed within the sector 

going forward. 

“From the lessons learnt by the TVET colleges through the 

blended learning approach, we will be in a stronger position to 

establish best practices that advance job creation and boost the 

country’s economic prospects,” adds Manamela. CHIETA has 

explored wide-ranging new approaches in the digitisation of skills 

development, which included in-depth research into the status of 

e-learning and e-assessments. 

Pillay says, “The implementation of this pilot project is one 

of the recommendations of this research. Our programme’s 

comprehensive curriculum was developed with participation by 

several stakeholders and is registered with the Quality Council 

for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and supported by the 

Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET),” Pillay 

adds. “This pilot project holds benefits for the participating TVET 

colleges, as well as for the wider skills development sector within 

our SETA’s sphere of operation,” he says. 


skills development 

S 

From B-BBEE scores to tax 

incentives, there are several noticeable 

benefits when implementing 

learnerships in a business. 

youth market. An enterprise can participate in facilitating 12-month 

work experience programmes for unemployed youth by: 

1. Sponsoring and hosting youth within their business. 

2. Sponsoring placements elsewhere within an existing SME/ 

supply chain. 

3. Providing hosting to the benefit of a new SME. 

HOW DO LEARNERSHIPS BENEFIT EMPLOYERS? 

From B-BBEE scores to tax incentives, there are several noticeable 

benefits when implementing learnerships in a business: 

• Contributing to skills development, job creation and economic 

growth, while boosting the company’s productivity and adding 

to its value through the employment of skilled, knowledgeable, 

competent employees. 

• Establishing a pool of properly-trained, experienced employees 

with critical skills to draw from gives the business a clear 

competitive edge in the industry. 

• Being committed to skills development positively impacts the 

company’s B-BBEE status, improving employment equity targets 

by enabling previously disadvantaged employees or unemployed 

individuals to upskill themselves and earn qualifications. 

• There are learnership tax incentives that allow employers to claim 

up to R120 000 per individual that completes their qualification, 

along with monthly employment tax incentives (ETI) for every 

employee hired between the ages of 18 and 29. 

AN ALL-ROUND WIN-WIN 

Partnering with a training provider that specialises in youth 

development is the smartest business hack that ensures everyone 

benefits – the company gains the full tax and employment equity 

advantages of learnerships, while candidates achieve their full 

potential through the successful completion of such programmes. S 

Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and 

Innovation, Buti Manamela. 

DRIVING EMPLOYABILITY AMONG SA’S YOUTH 

GIBB, one of South Africa’s leading multi-disciplinary engineering 

consulting companies, has partnered with the government’s Youth 

Employment Service (YES) initiative to drive future employability 

among South Africa’s youth. 

Introduced in 2018, the YES initiative is a government and 

business-driven initiative that seeks to tackle South Africa’s 

youth unemployment crisis.“Many of the learners who are 

part of the initiative at GIBB don’t have prior work experience,” 

says Siphamandla Mahlaba, senior learning and development 

consultant at GIBB. “The programme will provide the students 

with an opportunity to gain valuable work experience that will 

make them more employable in the future, be it within GIBB if 

an opportunity arises or at future employers once their 12-month 

period with GIBB ends.” 

As it is the first year in which the company has participated 

in the initiative, GIBB advertised posts externally and in line 

with the criteria set by government and the needs within the 

business. With over 1 800 applications, selecting the right 

candidates for the programme was essential. While GIBB has 

a structured programme that the students follow during their 

tenure with the company, the YES initiative too has a detailed 

programme in place. 

The initiative provides students with tablets that are preloaded 

with a variety of online training tools to assist them 

in upskilling themselves and garnering soft skills such as 

emotional intelligence, communication and negotiation, among 

others. “From a GIBB perspective, our role focuses largely on 

how we can provide students with the necessary experience to 

make them as employable as possible after their time with the 

company,” says Mahlaba. 

The company treats the students as employees instead of 

merely as students, providing them with the same induction 

processes as they would any other employee and the necessary 

working tools such as a laptop and workstation. Apart from the 

valuable work experience gained in their respective business 

units and niches over their 12-month internship with GIBB, 

students will also walk away with insights on how to look for job 

opportunities, create a CV and how to conduct themselves in a 

business environment. 

YES student Sinqobile Chili is excited about the opportunities that 

lie ahead. “Although I have only been with the company for a few 

weeks, the experience I have gained at GIBB so far has already 

proven invaluable,” says Chili. “From creating relationships among 

my peers to understanding the inner workings of the company and 

how the various roles lead to its success, I am excited for what lies 

ahead during my time with GIBB and how the teachings will allow 

me to thrive in the future.” 


S 

technology 

Digital transformation 

needs a new kind of leader 

AThere’s a temptation to consider digital transformation in terms of the technology that might need 

to be employed, but as with anything else, successful digital transformation is driven by the people 

in your organisation – the very people who will either adopt or resist the technology. 

And that means that digital transformation (DX) will require a 

particular kind of leadership. Human beings, by their very nature, 

are resistant to change. None of us likes being taken out of our 

comfort zone and put in a position where the way we’ve done 

something for decades is thrown into question. 

This means helping employees to imagine the future and 

accept that it’s possible, as well as managing their expectations 

along the way. 

For leaders, this will mean making difficult decisions and having 

the dreaded “courageous conversations” with employees who are 

trying to block change. It will mean identifying internal champions 

of the changes and empowering them to drive it forward. It may 

require bringing in external talent to boost the knowledge and 

skills internally. It will certainly require superb communication 

skills to ensure that change messaging reaches all the corners of 

the organisation and that employees are never left wondering 

what the next step is or how their lives will be affected. Most of 

all, however, it requires that the entire top structure is unified in 

owning the DX and models courage, enthusiasm and participation 

in the process, as well as a willingness to support those who require 

some additional bolstering. Leaders must understand that DX isn’t 

a once-off exercise or something that happens separately in its own 

silo. Rather, it is an integral part of your operations – every day and 

continuously. It must evolve with your enterprise and become part 

of the company’s current and future culture. To build this culture, 

leaders will have to do the following: 

Embrace curiosity. Instead of being afraid of novelty, learn to be 

curious about new things and investigate how you can create value 

for the organisation. 

Don’t confuse innovation with reinventing the wheel. Not everything 

requires that companies innovate from scratch. Instead, look at how www.bcx.co.za 

you can use existing tech where possible or copy it and only innovate 

for your organisation’s unique challenges. 

Be a pioneer. Look beyond your own industry for opportunities 

to create something new that can add extra value or even become a 

product or industry on its own. 

Remember that digital is not the outcome. It is a means to an 

end. See technology as an enabler of your core business processes 

and operations rather than being an end goal. 

Reinvent your approach to leadership. This journey is about a 

whole new way of being a leader and bringing your employees along 

with you. It is about so much more than just finding solutions to 

business requirements. 

Stay adaptable. This will require both flexibility and agility, 

because DX is a journey and things change fast. 

Understand every part of your company. This will help to ensure 

you select the right digital tools for your business. 

Remember that transformation is not easy. It requires serious 

effort. It means overcoming fears, shedding the past and pushing 

yourself and your employees towards something more. It may 

require that you all dig deep to make the changes you want. The 

changes will be spread across people, processes and technology, 

so be prepared for challenges like employee resistance, financial 

constraints and a lack of expertise in a variety of areas. However, 

the role of a leader is to lead by example, so leaders should ensure 

they learn about the new digital tools available, become au fait with 

them and encourage their employees to follow suit. With the right 

example, attitude, training and support, employees will be able to 

handle the transition and navigate both the change and the company 

into a bright new future. S 


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