Parliament has taken the Water Services Amendment Bill to communities in Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo, and the response has been overwhelming support. But residents want the new law backed by real capacity and enforcement.
It is not often that a piece of water legislation draws enthusiastic crowds. But over the past few weeks, as Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation has taken the Water Services Amendment Bill on the road, community halls in Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo have filled with residents who want a say in how their water is delivered. Their message has been consistent: they support the Bill, but they want it to work.
What the Bill proposes
The Water Services Amendment Bill, tabled in Parliament in October 2025, amends the Water Services Act of 1997, the law that governs how municipalities provide water and sanitation. Its key proposals are a mandatory licensing system for all water service providers, with a 12-month compliance period once regulations are finalised; minimum competency standards for the people who run water and wastewater systems; a clearer separation between water services authorities, usually municipalities responsible for oversight, and water service providers, the bodies that actually run the systems; stricter penalties for non-compliance and for operating without a licence; and stronger powers for the minister to intervene where service failures persist.
In short, the Bill aims to make it possible to hold water providers to account in the same way that other essential services are regulated, and to remove providers that consistently fail.
On the road
The first hearings were held in Mpumalanga from 14 to 16 August, in Graskop, Emalahleni and Ermelo. Committee chairperson Leon Basson told residents that public participation is not a tick-box exercise but a constitutional requirement that ensures laws respond to people’s needs. Hearings followed in North West, and then in Limpopo at the end of August, at Lenyenye in the Greater Mopani District, Polokwane and Bela-Bela.
According to Parliament, participants in Mpumalanga and North West expressed overwhelming support for the Bill, particularly its measures to strengthen accountability. In Mopani, residents again backed the Bill strongly.
What communities asked for
The support came with clear conditions. Residents in Mopani told the committee that the success of the Bill will depend on the capacity of the Department of Water and Sanitation, municipalities and providers to implement it. They asked for the department to be strengthened so that the minister can intervene quickly when providers fail, and for a public compliance register showing licence conditions, performance, directives, remedial actions and complaints.
They also called for service level agreements between municipalities and water providers to be made mandatory, so that responsibilities, obligations and performance standards are clearly defined. Participants described municipalities blaming each other for failures while residents bear the cost, district municipalities lacking the money and technical skills to run complex treatment works, and an overreliance on water tankers, which they said should be a temporary emergency measure rather than a substitute for permanent infrastructure. Acting chairperson Sello Dithebe said Parliament must ensure that legislation responds to the lived experiences of South Africans.
Why this is good news
Public hearings can sometimes be a formality. These ones appear to have been something more: a chance for the people most affected by failing water services to shape the law meant to fix them. The strong support for licensing, competency standards and accountability shows a public appetite for reform, and the specific suggestions, from a public compliance register to mandatory service agreements, could make the Bill stronger.
The Bill also connects to almost every water story the MAP Forum has covered this year. The Auditor-General’s findings on poor maintenance, the Green Drop report’s critical wastewater systems, the R4 billion swept from Johannesburg Water, the Treasury freeze over unpaid water board debts and the new ring-fenced utility in Emfuleni all point to the same need: providers that are capable, accountable and properly funded.
What comes next
After the hearings, the committee will consider the submissions and may amend the Bill before it is debated in the National Assembly and then sent to the National Council of Provinces. Regulations will then need to be written, and providers will have a year to comply with licensing.
The true test will come in implementation. Licensing only works if there is a regulator able to inspect, enforce and, where necessary, revoke licences. Competency standards only work if qualified people are hired and retained. As the residents of Mopani made clear, a good law on paper is not enough. But for the first time in many years, there is a credible legal framework on the table, and communities are behind it.
References
Parliament of South Africa: Mopani communities back Water Services Bill, demand stronger accountability and capacity (29 August 2026): https://www.parliament.gov.za/press-releases/media-statement-mopani-communities-back-water-services-bill-demand-stronger-accountability-and-capacity
Parliament of South Africa: Mpumalanga first to host public submissions on Water Services Amendment Bill (11 August 2026): https://www.parliament.gov.za/press-releases/media-statement-mpumalanga-first-host-public-submissions-water-services-amendment-bill
Parliament of South Africa: Limpopo next to make submissions on Water Services Amendment Bill (27 August 2026): https://www.parliament.gov.za/press-releases/media-alert-limpopo-next-make-submissions-water-services-amendment-bill
Parliament of South Africa: North West to host public hearings on Water Services Amendment Bill: https://www.parliament.gov.za/press-releases/media-alert-north-west-host-public-hearings-water-services-amendment-bill
Acts Online: Water Services Amendment Bill tabled in Parliament (October 2025): https://acts.co.za/news/blog/2025/10/water-services-amendment-bill-2025