Jacob Mamabolo, Gauteng CoGTA Member of the Executive Council, urged municipalities to in-source water tanker operations during a media briefing on May 22 [1].
This push for local control aims to stabilize service delivery and reduce reliance on external contractors ahead of upcoming local government elections. By coordinating national, provincial, and municipal spheres, the province hopes to resolve persistent infrastructure failures.
Speaking in Sandton, Mamabolo briefed the media on the progress of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy [2]. He said that municipalities must improve the coordination of services to ensure residents receive consistent water and sanitation.
Financial mismanagement remains a primary obstacle to these goals. Mamabolo said there is a need to address significant waste-management overspending, specifically citing the Emfuleni municipality, which saw an overspend of R145 million [3].
The province is also dealing with the fallout of procurement irregularities. Reports indicate a ghost-fleet procurement scandal involving R16 million in Emfuleni [4]. This deal has sparked political turmoil and allegations of a cover-up within the local administration.
Mamabolo said that in-sourcing water tanker services would allow municipalities to maintain better oversight of their assets and budgets. He said that the Turnaround Strategy is designed to create a sustainable model of governance that prevents the recurrence of such financial losses.
The MEC said that the alignment of the three spheres of government is critical to ensuring that the Local Government Turnaround Strategy is not merely a theoretical exercise but a practical improvement in daily service delivery for Gauteng residents [2].
“Municipalities must improve the coordination of services to ensure residents receive consistent water and sanitation.”
The shift toward in-sourcing critical services like water trucking suggests a lack of trust in private contractors and a need for tighter fiscal control. By targeting specific failures in Emfuleni—such as the R145 million waste overspend and the R16 million ghost-fleet scandal—the Gauteng provincial government is attempting to signal a crackdown on corruption and inefficiency to secure public confidence before the next election cycle.
