Away from the headlines about metro outages, modest projects are bringing reliable water to villages and townships for the first time. Two recent examples, in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, show what targeted investment can do.
Most water news in South Africa is about what has gone wrong: burst pipes, empty reservoirs, polluted rivers and money that went missing. Those stories matter. But they can obscure another reality. Across the country, smaller projects funded by the Department of Water and Sanitation and built by district municipalities and water boards are bringing reliable water to communities that have never had it. They rarely make the national news. They should.
Ga-Seakamela: boreholes, tanks and 100 standpipes
In March 2026, the department handed over the Avon Water Project in Ga-Seakamela, a village in the Blouberg Local Municipality in Limpopo’s Capricorn District. Until then, the village had no reliable source of water.
The R22.9 million project, funded through the Water Services Infrastructure Grant, drilled two new boreholes and refurbished four existing ones, with a combined yield of about 605 kilolitres a day on a 24-hour pumping cycle. It also built five pump houses, a 200-kilolitre elevated steel tank, three kilometres of bulk pipeline and a further kilometre of steel pipeline linking the boreholes to storage, as well as reticulation to 100 standpipes in the village. The site was fenced to protect it. Boreholes were also installed at Selaelo Primary School.
The handover was attended by the department’s Limpopo head, Lucy Kobe, the mayors of Capricorn District and Blouberg, and representatives of Lepelle Northern Water. Kobe urged the community to protect the infrastructure against vandalism and to use water responsibly, a reminder that a project’s success depends as much on what happens after the ribbon is cut as on the construction itself.
Bhongweni: building for growth
In the same week, during National Water Month, the department and the Harry Gwala District Municipality launched the Bhongweni Water Supply Project in Greater Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal. The project will upgrade about five kilometres of secondary bulk pipeline to a larger diameter, enlarge a service reservoir to 2.5 megalitres and extend and upgrade the reticulation mains.
What makes Bhongweni notable is that it is designed for the future as well as the present. It will serve 3,783 households now, with capacity for up to 5,626 households by 2047. Building in capacity for growth avoids the trap that has caught so many municipalities, where infrastructure designed for yesterday’s population collapses under today’s demand.
Why small projects matter
It is easy to dismiss projects of this size. R22.9 million is a small fraction of the R156 billion the President has said government will spend on water and sanitation infrastructure over three years. But for the people of Ga-Seakamela, it is the difference between walking to fetch water and having a standpipe in the village.
Small projects also have practical advantages. Borehole schemes can be built relatively quickly, use local groundwater rather than depending on distant bulk systems, and can be maintained by local teams if the skills and budgets are in place. Upgrades like Bhongweni’s strengthen existing networks rather than building entirely new ones. Together, many such projects can reach far more communities than a handful of mega-projects.
The part that comes next
The challenge, as always, is sustainability. The Auditor-General and the Green Drop reports have shown that many municipalities spend far too little on maintenance, and that infrastructure built with grant funding often deteriorates once the contractors leave. Boreholes need pumps that are serviced, tanks need cleaning, pipes need repair and someone needs to pay for the electricity. Communities also need to protect the infrastructure from vandalism and theft.
The department’s Water Services Infrastructure Grant, which funds projects like these, is one of the tools that can make a real difference, especially in rural areas. Its success will be measured not only by the number of projects completed, but by how many of them are still delivering water five and ten years from now.
Good news is still news
The MAP Forum will keep reporting on failures, because accountability matters. But we will also report on what works. Ga-Seakamela and Bhongweni are reminders that water services can be extended and improved, that grants can reach the communities they are meant for and that the people who build and run these systems are making a difference. If you know of a water project in your area that is changing lives, we would like to hear about it.
References
SAnews: Avon project brings water relief to Ga-Seakamela community (23 March 2026): https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/avon-project-brings-water-relief-ga-seakamela-community
SAnews: Avon project brings water relief to Ga-Seakamela community (alternative link): https://www.sanews.gov.za/node/80368
Bizcommunity: President announces crisis committee to tackle SA’s water challenges (13 February 2026): https://www.bizcommunity.com/article/president-announces-crisis-committee-to-tackle-sa-water-challenges-062445a
Parliamentary Monitoring Group: Water Sector Report, AGSA briefing (2 December 2025): https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/42181/