{"id":850851,"date":"2026-02-12T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=850851"},"modified":"2026-02-12T20:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:10:57","slug":"new-state-owned-entity-coming-to-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/850851\/new-state-owned-entity-coming-to-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"New state-owned entity coming to South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amid South Africa’s extreme water supply challenges, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that a new state-owned entity will soon be established to tackle the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People across the nation, notably in Johannesburg and Knysna, have been experiencing prolonged water shortages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa himself has deemed the increasing infrastructure challenges linked to water to be potentially far worse than load shedding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at the 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA), Ramaphosa said the challenges stem from the neglect of critical infrastructure across municipalities nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he admitted that there is no silver bullet to address the problem, Ramaphosa said that the government had committed R156 billion to water infrastructure over the next three years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President also said that the government is in the final stages of establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new state-owned institution will monitor the nation’s water infrastructure and mobilise funding for the infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2024, Parliament passed the National Water Resources Infrastructure SOC Bill, which was then assented to in August of the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa and Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, have said that the existing system, marked by fragmented responsibilities, has failed to attract the investment needed to tackle water issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports vary, but the cost of revenue loss from unaccounted-for water is estimated at more than R16 billion annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greater accountability <\/h2>\n\n\n
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During SONA, the President noted that the real challenge facing South Africa is not a lack of water, but the struggle to get water from dams to people’s taps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the Water Services Amendment Bill will allow the government to hold water boards accountable for their performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who do not meet their targets, the government will be able to withdraw the licences of these water boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that if a municipality cannot deliver water to its residents, another entity must assume this responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these legal changes and increased investment will address the issue in the long term, the President acknowledged that short-term solutions are important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on the National Energy Crisis Committee established three years ago, Ramaphosa will now create a new National Water Crisis Committee that he will chair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The structure of the committee will bring together all existing efforts to address the issue into a single coordinating body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will deploy technicians and resources from the national government to municipalities facing water challenges, which will ensure that action is taken swiftly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned local government authorities that the national government will intervene when necessary, and hold to account those who fail to supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that the national government has laid criminal charges against 56 municipalities that have failed to meet its obligations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Municipal managers could even face criminal charges for violating the National Water Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President said that water revenue is being used for “other purposes” that are not aligned with upgrading water infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is now a R54 billion incentive for municipalities to improve their water, sanitation and electricity services, aimed at ensuring that revenue is used to fix reservoirs, pumps and other pieces of infrastructure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa says that the National government is close to creating a new state-owned agency focused on water. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":823338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1455],"class_list":["post-850851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-sona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850851"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850863,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850851\/revisions\/850863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}