An evaluation of water and sanitation provision by Uthukela Water in selected districts of KwaZulu-Natal.
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2011
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Abstract
This research study is about the evaluation of UThukela Water on the provision of water and sanitation
services in Amajuba District and UMzinyathi District municipalities, which form part of uThukela
catchment basin in KwaZulu-Natal. Water and sanitation services have been the responsibility of local
municipalities, mostly in favour of the white minority during the apartheid regime.
The new democratic era which saw the dawn of the country’s new demarcations thus changing
municipal boundaries, also forced the government to ensure that all basic services are equally provided
across the country’s regional and racial groups, posing a big challenge in service delivery particularly to
the South African Local governments. The transformation from apartheid to democracy based local
governments led to the establishment of district municipalities, who then took over the responsibility
for water and sanitation services and attained the water services authority status.
The government of national unity promulgated and established a few statutory frameworks to ensure
proper service delivery and transformation in the Local Government sphere, outlined below.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which is the Supreme Law of the country, which gave
Local Governments the status of being independent spheres of government in the new South African
democratic order. The Local Government Transition Act 209 of 1993 gave profound direction towards
the transformation of local government. Other enabling legislations that were passed to remove
discriminatory measures of apartheid and ensure that service delivery in the Local Government is
equitably delivered, were: The Municipal Demarcation Act 1998 (Act 27 of 1998); The Local
Government: Municipal Systems Act 2000 (Act 32 of 2000); Local Government: Municipal Structures
Act (Act) and the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act 2003 (Act 56 of 2003).
The transformation of Local Government had two main aims. The first was to move away from racialbased
local governments towards non-biased and non-racial institutions which will serve both rural and
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urban communities within a municipal area. The second was to deliver municipal services to the
majority of South Africans that were previously deprived of such basic services under the apartheid
regime. The intentions were good; however, local government is still faced with various challenges such
as limited resources, including human, financial, and technological resources, rapid population growth,
dilapidated infrastructure, and shortage of skills. These shortages have negatively impacted on the
provision of water and sanitation services in both rural and urban areas. The backlogs for basic services
in the rural areas are quite severe. Further challenges regarding water and sanitation provision include
low payments for services, high prevalence of HIV & AIDS amongst the workforce (skilled employees),
and poverty.
This research sets out to evaluate the role of UThukela Water, which is a Municipal entity established to
provide water and sanitation services on behalf of Amajuba and UMzinyathi District Municipalities. The
powers of the districts as stated by Section 84 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 2000
(Act 32 of 2000) are amongst others, water supply, bulk sewerage purification and disposal, and solid
waste disposal in the area of the district. It became evident in this research that district municipalities
lack capacity to deliver water and sanitation services. This was due to a shortage of skills, lack of human,
financial and technological resources. Given this lack of capacity, UThukela Water was established to
expedite water and sanitation since delivery. UThukela Water inherited infrastructural backlogs,
received inadequate funding from municipalities, faced much political interference and moreover, was
directed and managed by inexperienced personnel. Hence there was no monitoring of performance of
staff and no oversight function exercised by the parent municipalities. Some of the deficiencies could
have been avoided or reduced had the establishment of UThukela Water been more appropriate and
transparent to all stakeholders. Arising from the cited drawbacks, the provision of water and sanitation
services at Amajuba and UMzinyathi districts have been seriously compromised: serious protests and
riots are an indication of the communities’ dissatisfaction.
This research cuts across a number of disciplines, including social service, economics, political science
and public administration. It became imperative therefore that the legislations governing water industry
be analysed, the institutions that use water be discussed, the capacity of water services authorities be
investigated, the ability of staff to execute duties be checked and the impact of political influence or
interference be discussed. This meant studying similar institutions, the relevant legislations and
literature. In this study, the fundamentals of municipal entities were researched and compared with
regard to their establishments, management and operations.
Over and above studying municipal entities, the researcher focused on UThukela Water’s performance
in the provision of water and sanitation services. The study led to the comparison of UThukela Water
(Pty) Ltd with other Water Boards and other Public-Private-Partnerships. The comparison confirmed that
the success of these institutions depends on the availability of skills, finance, and sound governance.
In this study, relevant literature was studied to gain a better understanding of the impact of local
government to the communities. Relevant South African legislation was analysed and reviewed.
Surveys by the researcher were analysed and presented. Literature was reviewed by the researcher. All
these data sources confirm that UThukela Water (Pty) Ltd has a number of serious short comings
regarding infrastructure backlogs, shortage of skills, financial constraints, shortage of human resources,
monitoring and evaluation. Stretching the entity even more is the fact that it is owned by three different
municipalities whose political powers are changing hands between two rival political parties i.e. the
African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party. This on its own caused management problems,
coordination failures, communication problems and stakeholder participation failures, and lack of
continuity. It would have been easier if the political power was to be vested in one political party within
a municipality for a period of at least five years without changing, and more so if all the three
municipalities were from the same political party for at least five years. Political will and fewer financial
constraints are vital ingredients that impact on effective and efficient service delivery. The provision of
water and sanitation services can improve considerably if political power can be used to leverage
financial constraint which could translate into sourcing required skills, extending infrastructure and
giving water to more people.
A study of this nature would be inadequate without providing recommendations. Several
recommendations basically to improve the provision of water and sanitation services by UThukela
Water (Pty) Ltd have been proposed. These recommendations are: re-aligning and reconfiguring
UThukela Water (Pty) Ltd; changing the culture of the organisation; managing customer relations
effectively; improving water demand management strategies; making provision for new dams;
implementing bulk water controls; initiating and implementing infrastructural rehabilitation
programmes; improving revenue generation strategies; improving business systems; affording
customers multiple options of service levels; removing limitations to access of service levels and
engaging in public education. It is envisaged that the adoption of these research findings and
implementation of the proposed recommendations will produce the municipal entity that responds to
people’s needs by delivering effective and efficient services. Therefore communities can proudly live to
the theme “Water is life and Sanitation is dignity”.
Since most of the flaws emanated from the failure of shareholders or parent municipalities to exercise
oversight function, monitoring and evaluating the performance of uThukela Water, a Policy Board Model
of governance was proposed in this study. It cannot be over emphasised that when a municipal entity is
established, its founders or lead consultants must consult and involve all stakeholders and thus design
the entity properly. Critical factors for effective governance are, the appointment of board members
with all the necessary expertise e.g. experts in social science, law, finance and business. The board must
be competent in financial management, and must be able to give strategic direction to management. It
must approve policies that provide framework for effective performance from senior management
down to general workers. Should these critical factors and elements be ignored, the entity is doomed to
fail and therefore will perform dismally in its mandate to deliver water and sanitation services to the
people.
Description
Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2011.
Keywords
Water-supply--KwaZulu-Natal., Sanitation--KwaZulu-Natal., Public administration., Industrial management., Theses--Public administration.