Project Management Office for Increased Access to Quality, Reliable and Sustainable Basic Levels of Service in 27 Prioritised Districts Greater Sekhukhune District Final Report: Data, Analysis, and Recommendations Date: 25 May 2016

2 INTRODUCTION TO THE SEKHUKHUNE DISTRICT

Sekhukhune: district geography Sekhukhune is one of the 5 districts in Limpopo Province with 5 LM’s (Elias Motsoaledi, Ephraim Mogale, Fetakgomo, Greater Tubatse & Makhuduthamaga). Two of these LM’s Fetakgomo & Greater Tubatse will be amalgamated after the 2016 LG Elections District code : DC 47 Total Area : km 2 Total Population : 1,194,596 2 Total Households : 293,397 2 Average H/H size : 4 1 Population density : 79.6/km 2 % population growth : 1.07% Census estimates as per DWS Draft Sekhukhune 5-year Reliable Water Services Master Plan, March % of the settlements are rural with 93% of the population residing in rural areas 2

Sekhukhune: Socio-economic data 14 SettlementsHouseholdsPopulation Rural Areas % % % Urban Areas 2 234% % % TOTAL Census, Household Income estimates as per DWS Draft Sekhukhune 5-year Reliable Water Services Master Plan, March 2016 Indigent Population 1 : 82% Unemployment 1 : 51% Youth Unemployment 1 : 63%

5 WATER SERVICES IN SEKHUKHUNE

Institutional arrangements for water services 6 Sekhukhune District Municipality is a Water Services Authority and Water Services Provider The local municipalities in the District are not responsible for water supply

Definitions of access to reliable water supply 7 1 The RDP: A Policy Framework, Census DWS draft Mar 2016 Sekhukhune Water Services Master Plan Water supply minimum standards 1 Accessibility of households to a reliable supply of at least 25 liters of water per person per day (6kl of water per household per month) within 200 m of the household. The flow-rate should not be less than 10 litres per minute. The water should be available on a regular, daily basis. The quality of the water should be in accordance with currently accepted minimum standards with respect to health-related chemical and micro-biological contaminants Reliable supply 2,3 The 2011 Census asked questions related to interruptions in water supply. From the Census data, one can calculate the % of households which had at least one interruption lasting longer than 2 days over the year prior to the Census year. DWS undertakes a more detailed assessment of reliability which takes other factors into account, in addition to interruptions, such as water quality (blue drop) and environmental impacts (green drop) The DWS assessment results in a “reliability index” - the percentage of households that have access to a reliable water service The calculation of the reliability index also takes into account an assessment of the quality of the management of the water service, including maintenance and operations

Water supply backlogs and MTSF target 8 Backlogs in access to water infrastructure to meet minimum standards Absence of any formal water infrastructure (unserved) Need for extension of existing water infrastructure in an existing scheme (underserved) MTSF target To increase access to a reliable water supply to 90% of households by , from 65% in 2014 Lack of reliability of water supply (where there is infrastructure) Aged infrastructure in need of refurbishment or replacement, and therefore not functioning adequately Infrastructure in need of capacity enhancement, e.g. o water treatment plant does not have sufficient capacity to meet the demand o a water reservoir is not big enough to supply the scheme during peak demand Lack of maintenance or inappropriate operation, leading to infrastructure breakdown or underperformance 1 The Presidency, MTSF

Sekhukhune: Water supply backlogs 9 A. Infrastructure backlog in 2015 estimates 2 a) % of households that are unserved: 29% b) % of households that are underserved: 24% Total: ( h/h) 53% 1 Census DWS Draft Sekhukhune DM 5-year Water & Sanitation Service Reliability Implementation Plan, March 2016 Key points: There has been a 14% increase in the households that were unserved and underserved from 39% in to 53% in While there is a lack of comparable historical data on reliability, there is not yet evidence of any change (improvement or decline) in reliability While there are still more than half of total households to be provided with water supply infrastructure, the reliability of water supply is also a major challenge Therefore, there needs to be an equal focus on improving reliability and addressing backlog B. Lack of reliability a)2011 Census measurement 1 % of households which do not have access to a reliable service 37% b) 2016 DWS reliability index 2 % of households which did not have access to a reliable water supply: 62%

Financial issues affecting water supply in Sekhukhune 10 1 Sekhukhune Development of Water Tariff Policy and Tariff Structure Framework, DWS Draft Sekhukhune DM 5-year Water & Sanitation Service Reliability Implementation Plan, March Sekhukhune Budget Office Free Basic Water National policy: First 10kl per month free to indigent households (6 kl for water supply, 4 kl for sanitation) Sekhukhune policy: First 6kl free to all households registered as indigents 1. The rest of the consumer charged at a stepped Tariff rates Key points: Sekhukhune District Municipality, practically, is not receiving any of its potential water revenue, due to non-revenue water losses and extremely poor collection efficiencies This has a major impact on Sekhukhune’s ability to carry out required maintenance and refurbishment, which in turn increases non-revenue water – a vicious cycle Non-revenue water and collection efficiency (Non-revenue water is the difference between the volume of water delivered into a network and that which should be billed for authorised consumption (i.e. net production less revenue water)) Non-revenue water in Sekhukhune 2 = 54% (hence revenue water is 46%) Illegal connections are a major contributing factor towards non-revenue water System losses (e.g. leaking pipes, house connection leaks, storage overflow) makes up of the non-revenue water has no reliable data The collection efficiency (the percentage of billed amount that is collected) in Sekhukhune was 2% 3 in FY. Therefore Sekhukhune is only collecting revenue for 1% of the water delivered from the network (2% of 46%) – it collected R12 million in water revenue in

Water backlog projects: required, planned, budgeted 1 11 Gap between required projects and funded projects = 3,78 billion 1 DWS Draft Sekhukhune DM 5-year Water & Sanitation Service Reliability Implementation Plan, March Sekhukhune WSDP Sekhukhune Budget Office Key points: The unserved and underserved backlog in Sekhukhune is projected to be reduced to 25% by 2019 (from 53% in 2015) provided the current funded projects are prioritized to address the backlog and implemented Projects in implementation and planning phases and newly proposed (aimed at reducing unserved, underserved backlog and improving reliability) projects are currently in implementation, planned or being planned of which 274 projects cost R 8,17 billion. The remaining 8 projects are in the process of costing This includes R 0,46 billion for major rehabilitation and other maintenance, R 7,12 billion for eradicating backlogs and R 0,59 billion for replacement of aged infrastructure Impact of budgeted projects DWS estimates that the funded planned projects will reduce the unserved and underserved infrastructure backlog in Sekhukhune to 25% of households by Budgeted projects over MTEF R 4,39 billion from Own, MWIG, MIG and RBIG has been allocated for the planned projects over the MTEF 2 Sekhukhune has allocated R million for O&M in the financial year

Sekhukhune Blue Drop results Key points: Sekhukhune improves its Blue Drop Score in 2012 from 2010 then has started falling from Average in 2012 to Very Poor in Sekhukhune has started moving toward Critical State of Performance Blue Drop Score of Sekhukhune Sekhukhune District Municipality secured Blue Drop Score of 47.65%, which falls within Very Poor Category and is very low in comparison to the highest Score in Limpopo Province of 92.48% secured by Polokwane Local Municipality. 1 DWS, 2014 Blue Drop Report Blue Drop Assessment The assessment is based on 3 specific areas of concern namely, Process Control, Drinking Water Quality and Risk Management The Scale of Blue Drop Rating Blue Drop Score is awarded based on performance and is as below. Lesser score indicates more risk to people’s health and the environment and vis-a-vis. 95 to 100% Excellent; 80 to <95% Good; 50 to <80% Average; 31 to <50% Very Poor; and 0 to <31% Critical

Institutional issues affecting water supply in Sekhukhune 13 1 DWS Draft Sekhukhune DM 5-year Water & Sanitation Service Reliability Implementation Plan, March 2016 Key points: The performance of the district have shown extreme vulnerability in almost all the 16 areas of water services provision Water resource management, water & sanitation service quality, Revenue collection, Waste Water/Safety & Regulatory Compliance and technical staff skill level need urgent attention These MuSSA results should have major implications for the design of provincial and national support and interventions in Sekhukhune Moderated Municipal Strategic Self-assessment Tool (MuSSA) Results for Sekhukhune 1 Management Skill Level (Technical) 55% Staff Skill Level (Technical) 25% Technical Staff Capacity (Number) 35% Water Resources Management 25% Water Conservation & Demand Mngt 30% Drinking Water Safety & Regulatory Compliance 80% Basic Sanitation 75% Waste Water/Safety & Regulatory Compliance 30% Infrastructure Asset Management 40% O&M of Assets 50% Financial Management 25% Revenue Collection 5% Financial Asset Management 60% Org. Performance Management 90% Water & Sanitation Services Quality 30% Customer Care 55% Information Management 20% Water Services Planning 50% Vulnerability Scale: 0-50% Extreme; 50-60% High; 60-75% Moderate; % Low Vulnerability

Recommendations 14 1.Sekhukhune needs to have an equal focus on improving reliability and addressing backlogs 2.Sekhukhune DM needs to improve its revenue collection as it is a low collection rate 3.To address non-revenue water and collection inefficiency, Sekhukhune DM should: Measure its various system and commercial water losses and identify the main causes of non-revenue water Draw up and implement a plan to systematically address the main causes of non-revenue water and to improve collection efficiency 4.National and provincial government’s financial and capacity support to Sekhukhune DM should be focused on 1), 2) and 3) above as well as the critical areas identified in the MuSSA process 5.Sekhukhune DM should increase its budget for operations and maintenance as it has the potential to improve its revenue

SANITATION SERVICES IN SEKHUKHUNE 15

Definitions of Basic Sanitation Facility and Services 16 1 DWAF, Strategic Framework for Water Services, September 2003 Basic Sanitation Facility 1 The infrastructure necessary to provide a sanitation service which is safe, reliable, private, protected from the weather, ventilated, keeps smells to the minimum, is easy to keep clean, minimises the risk of the spread of sanitation-related diseases by facilitating the appropriate control of disease carrying flies and pests, and enables safe and appropriate treatment and/or removal of human waste and wastewater in an environmentally sound manner The VIP Toilet is the basic sanitation facility. Basic Sanitation Service 1 The provision of a basic sanitation facility which is easily accessible to a household, the sustainable operation of the facility, including the safe removal of human waste and wastewater from the premises where this is appropriate and necessary, and the communication of good sanitation, hygiene and related practices

Sanitation backlogs and MTSF target 17 Backlogs in access to sanitation infrastructure to meet minimum standards 1 Absence of any formal sanitation infrastructure (unserved) Need to upgrade infrastructure that does not meet the minimum standards (eg Pit toilets) (Unserved) Need for extension of existing infrastructure to provide service to new households in the community (underserved) MTSF target To increase access to a reliable sanitation service to 90% of households by , from 65% in 2014 Lack of reliability of sanitation services (where there is infrastructure) Aged infrastructure in need of refurbishment or replacement, and therefore not functioning adequately Infrastructure in need of capacity enhancement, e.g. o Waste water treatment plants do not have sufficient capacity to meet the demand – this can also be the reason for households being underserved Lack of maintenance or inappropriate operation, leading to infrastructure breakdown or underperformance 1 DWA/DHS/DPME, Sanitation Services – Quality of Sanitation in South Africa, March The Presidency, MTSF

Introduction to sanitation services in Sekhukhune 18 As the Water Services Authority and Water Services Provider, Sekhukhune District Municipality is also responsible for sanitation infrastructure and services in all Local Municipalities in the district According to the 2011 Census, there were buckets in Sekhukhune. All buckets have been eradicated 1. Based on the 2014 Green Drop report, the Sanitation Risk Profile for Sekhukhune is 90,3%. Sekhukhune has moved significantly from a mostly high risk position in 2013 to a critical risk space in The risk profiles over the period 2008 to 2014 of 17 Waste Water Treatment Plants are as follows: 2 1 has improved 3 with no changes 13 regressed 1 DWS draft Dec year Water Services Master Plan 2 DWS 2014 Green Drop report

19 Definition of backlog Inaccessibility to minimum of pit latrines with ventilation (VIP latrine) Coverage by sanitation type (households) 2 Flush toilet (sewerage) : (6%) Flush toilet (septic tank) : (1%) VIP toilet : (12%) Total: (19%) Estimated cost to eradicate backlog: R959 million 3 1 The RDP: A Policy Framework, Census DWS draft Dec year Water Services Master Plan Sekhukhune: Sanitation backlog and budget Key points All the bucket latrines identified in Census 2011 have been eradicated 3 There has been an increase in coverage from 19% in 2011 to 51% in 2015 The 2019 MTSF target of 90% could be met in Sekhukhune if they address the refurbishment and replacement which accounts for 82% of the backlog as at 2015 The meager maintenance budget allocation affects effective operations of WWTP Sanitation backlog in 2011: 81% ( H/H) There is also a backlog of refurbishment and replacement of waterborne sewage systems at an estimated cost of R79,70 million 2. A.Infrastructure backlog in 2015 estimates 3 a) % of h/h that are unserved: 9% (25 687) b) % of h/h that are underserved: 40% ( ) Total backlog: 49% ( h/h)

Sanitation backlog projects: required, planned, budgeted 1 20 Gap between required projects and funded projects = R million 1 DWS Draft Sekhukhune DM 5-year Water & Sanitation Service Reliability Implementation Plan, March 2016 Key points The backlog for served and underserved in Sekhukhune is projected to be reduced to 25% by 2019 (from 81% in 2011) provided the current funded projects are prioritized to address the backlog and implemented Projects in implementation and planning phases and newly proposed (aimed at reducing unserved, underserved backlog and improving reliability) 1 54 projects are currently in implementation, planned or being planned of 51 has been cost to a value of R1 984 million. 3 projects yet to be cost This includes R 37 million for major rehabilitation and other maintenance, R million for eradicating backlogs and R 38 million for replacement of aged infrastructure Impact of budgeted projects DWS estimates that the funded planned projects will reduce the unserved and underserved infrastructure backlog in Sekhukhune to 25% of households by 2019 Budgeted projects over MTEF R 459 million from MWIG, MIG and RBIG has been allocated for the planned projects over the MTEF 2

State of Waste Water Treatment Plants in Sekhukhune 21 1 DWS: Green Drop Report, 2014 Cumulative Risk Rating: 90 – 100% Critical risk; 70 - <90% High Risk WWTPs; 50-<70% Medium risk ; <50% Low Risk WWTPs

State of Waste Water Treatment Plants in Sekhukhune 22 1 DWS: Green Drop Report, 2014 Cumulative Risk Rating: 90 – 100% Critical risk; 70 - <90% High Risk WWTPs; 50-<70% Medium risk ; <50% Low Risk WWTPs Key Points Risk trends since show that 13 plants regressed, 3 remain unchanged and 1 improved The key risk factors are the lack of effluent monitoring, non-compliant effluent quality and lack of flow monitoring Lack of risk based planning and lack of resources hampers the municipality’s ability to identify and address risk areas on their process

Findings and Recommendations 23 Findings Sanitation infrastructure services in Sekhukhune are extremely poor. Sekhukhune District Municipality collection efficiency in 2014/15 was 49% as reflected in the total collected amount of R 4,22 million 1. Recommendations Sekhukhune needs to have an equal focus on improving reliability and addressing backlogs of sanitation services. Sekhukhune DM should increase its budget for maintenance particularlly for WWTP that are regressing rapidly MIG, MWIG and RBIG funding should give priority to refurbishment or replacement projects Sekhukhune DM needs to improve its revenue collection as it is extremely low 1 Sekhukhune Budget & Treasury Department

Summary findings Connection backlogs are being addressed progressively and will be eradicated in about three years (by approximately 2019) Maintenance backlogs are increasing in municipal areas of supply Local municipalities will not be able to get themselves out of this financial/maintenance situation, thus external support (financial & capacity) will be required The electricity function of the local municipalities is not ring fenced 53

Recommendations to address maintenance, refurbishment and replacement backlogs for electricity 1.Most of the electricity losses are caused by electricity theft (illegal connections and tampered meters) and billing problems –To address this, the local municipalities should remove illegal connections and replace faulty meters on an ongoing basis and improve their billing systems 2.To address collection inefficiency, the local municipalities in Greater Sekhukhune should develop and implement effective revenue collection improvement plans 3.National and provincial government financial & capacity support to the local municipalities in the Greater Sekhukhune District should be focused on 1) and 2) above 4.MISA should consider support for the municipalities to put together business cases and refurbishment plans for the eradication of the maintenance backlogs. MISA should work with DBSA and DoE to secure the necessary funding to eradicate the maintenance backlogs. 5.MISA should continue to support to municipalities to put together electricity masterplans. 6.The local municipalities should consider ring-fencing the electricity function and putting in place adequately funded maintenance strategies focusing on key preventative maintenance activities and the reduction of losses 25

Good progress is being made in reducing the electricity infrastructure backlogs and the backlogs will be eradicated within the MTSF Inadequate progress is being made in reducing the water, sanitation, roads and solid waste backlogs and significant additional funding and capacity support will be required to make any substantial progress or eradicate backlogs to meet MTSF targets Expenditure levels for MIG grants in 2014/15: GSDM: 43%, Emots: 98%, Emog: 88%, GTLM: 100%, Fetakgomo: 100% and Makhudu: 90% (Source: District MIG Manager - COGTA) Across the sectors there are problems with the reliability of the service being provided 26 Conclusions for Sekhukhune

The main causes of reliability problems are inadequate maintenance, insufficient refurbishment or replacement of aged infrastructure, and insufficient upgrading of existing infrastructure The main cause of inadequate maintenance is that insufficient funding is being budgeted for this purpose The state of sewage systems is deteriorating and this is a health risk The lack of funding for maintenance is partly a result of poor revenue collection efficiencies, high levels of non-revenue water and electricity theft. However, it appears that improving revenue collection alone will not result in sufficient funding for refurbishment and maintenance, and that loan or grant finance will be required to supplement this 27 Conclusions for Sekhukhune DM

THANK YOU 28