OBAKENG RAMABODU | Building our own capacity is the only way to fix Tshwane water crisis

The City of Tshwane has reached a turning point. For too long, it has been trapped in a system where basic services became a business opportunity for a few instead of a guarantee for all.

The recent revelation that the City spent R777 million on water tankers in the 2024/2025 financial year is a clear example of how outsourcing has failed both the municipality and its residents, and to turn a blind eye and allow this looting to continue will be failing on our part as this mayoral committee.

This figure is not just a reflection of wasteful spending, it is a mirror showing how a city can lose control of its own ability to serve its people.

When water becomes a tender, when electricity maintenance is handed to contractors, and when infrastructure repairs depend on the availability of a service provider, then government stops being a government and becomes a customer in its own house.

The City of Tshwane cannot continue to operate this way.

The idea of building internal capacity, insourcing skills, equipment, and Human Resources, is not just an administrativechoice.

It is the foundation of a functioning municipality and rebuilding our city into a clean city. It means reclaiming control over services that belong to the people and rebuilding a system that puts residents, not contractors, at the centre of service delivery.

A clear example of what happens when the City takes charge is found in its streetlight programme.

For years, Tshwane was in darkness, literally. Entire neighbourhoods, including townships and suburban areas, went months or even years without functioning streetlights. The backlog was massive, and the City relied on private contractors who overpromised, underdelivered, and often left projects incomplete.

When the City decided to build its own internal team to fix streetlights, specifically buying new fleet to make this work happen, things began to change.

A dedicated unit of municipal technicians was rebuilt, equipped with vehicles, tools, and a clear mandate to repair streetlightsdirectly without waiting for procurement processes to run their slow course. Within months, the City started clearing the backlog that had seemed impossible to resolve.

The results were visible. Streets that had been dark for years began to shine again. Community safety improved, and residents could see progress without reading about tenders or contractors in the news.

More importantly, the cost of repairs went down because there were no middlemen.

The City paid for work done, not for layers of subcontracting and inflated invoices.
This is what building internal capacity means in practice, it brings efficiency, transparency, and accountability back to government.

When workers are employed by the municipality, their success is tied to the City’s success. They answer to residents, not to private bosses chasing profits.

The same principle applies to the City’s water challenges.

The 'R777 million' spenton water tankers was meant to respond to communities with limited or disrupted water supply. But over time, the tanker system became a business on its own, a system where crises were more profitable than solutions.

Water tankers, instead of being a temporary intervention, became a permanent feature of municipal service delivery. Contracts were renewed, costs escalated, and accountability faded. Communities in Hammanskraal, Mamelodi, and Soshanguve began to depend on trucks that often arrived late, sometimes not at all, and sometimes carrying water of questionable quality.

The tragedy is that this money could have built long-term infrastructure, boreholes, new pipelines, or the rehabilitation of reservoirs. Instead, it funded a tanker economy that benefits the few and leaves the City vulnerable to corruption, manipulation, and even deliberate sabotage.

Municipal infrastructure doesnot just break on its own. In many cases, vandalism and sabotage are part of a wider pattern of criminal activity aimed at keeping the City dependent on private contractors. Broken pipes and power outages create business for those who profit from fixing the very damage they cause.

This is why Tshwane’s decision to build its own capacity in water services is both urgent and strategic. The City is now moving to acquire its own fleet of water tankers, employ its own drivers, and strengthen technical teams that can maintain and repair water systems in-house. The same model that worked for streetlights can work for water, direct service delivery, owned and managed by the municipality.

Beyond emergency delivery, the City is also investing in sustainable infrastructure like boreholes, especially in townships such as Hammanskraal, Ga-Rankuwa, and Atteridgeville.

These projects are not just about access to water; they are about self-sufficiency and dignity. A borehole in a community means stability, independence from corrupt tender systems, and assurance that water will be available regardless of political or contractual disputes.

Every cent spent on insourcing builds permanent capacity. Every cent spent on outsourcing creates temporary relief but permanent dependency.

Building internal capacity also strengthens the fight against corruption. Corruption thrives in systems where accountability is outsourced.

Every new contract introduces a new risk of manipulation, collusion, or overpricing. Once the municipality becomes the main service provider again, oversight becomes easier and transparency becomes standard.

Officials and workers can be held accountable directly. Performance can be measured not through invoices, but through delivery, whether lights are working, taps are running, and waste is being collected.

This approach also builds skills within the City. Every technician trained, every driver hired, every engineer deployed strengthens Tshwane’s institutional memory. Over time, this creates a sustainable workforce capable of maintaining the city’s infrastructure without relying on outsiders who disappear once contracts end.

The City of Tshwane’s turnaround is not only about fixing services, it is about restoring public trust. Residents have lost confidence in a government that spends billions but fails to deliver basic necessities.

The only way to rebuild that trust is to demonstrate visible, consistent progress that residents can feel in their daily lives.

When lights come back on, when water flows from taps, and when roads are maintained, people start believing again that local government can work. That belief is critical for the long-term stability of the City.

The streetlight repairs have already shown what can happen when political will meets administrative discipline. The same energy must now be directed toward water, waste, and infrastructure.

The message should be clear: Tshwane will no longer be a city run by contracts and consultants, it will be a city run by competence and commitment.

The fight against vandalism, corruption, and service failure is ultimately a fight for state capacity. Outsourcing might seem easier in the short term, but it weakens the City in the long run. Tshwane cannot depend on private contractors to build its future.

The success of the in-house streetlight programme is proof that the City can manage its own affairs efficiently.

Extendingthis model to water and other critical services will save money, protect infrastructure, and improve service delivery. Then we will move to potholes, construction and eventually all sectors of the municipality.

Building internal capacity is not about ideology, it is about practicality. It is the difference between a city that pays for crisis and a city that pays for progress.
If Tshwane continues on this way, employing its own people, managing its own assets, and taking responsibility for its own systems, it can finally move from survival to stability.

Water is life, and light is safety. Both must flow from a government that is capable, accountable, and owned by the people it serves.

Cllr Obakeng Ramabodu is an EFF Councillor in the City of Tshwane and a Member of the Mayoral Committee response for Environment and Agriculture