Calls growing for Treasury to address SA's water crisis ahead of budget speech

Experts at auditing firm Deloitte are calling for the National Treasury to detail interventions to address the country’s water crisis when Minister of Finance Enoch delivers Budget 2026 later this week.

The calls come amid a frustrating few weeks for residents in parts of the country, including Johannesburg and Tshwane.

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Residents and businesses have been hamstrung by intermittent water supply disruptions caused by a combination of ageing infrastructure, high demand, and leaks in the system - among other issues.

Tensions over dry taps escalated to protests in affected areas before government put their heads together to announce plans to address the crisis.

This includes infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, technical support to municipalities and the ring-fencing of infrastructure grants and reprioritisation of budgets to focus on critical water projects.

Despite the assurances, the water issue has now been described as the next big disaster, replacing the energy crisis, which frustrated residents and businesses and crippled the economy.

The director at Deloitte, Simon van Wyk, said efforts to ensure urban resilience at municipalities is key.

“Something that I maybe just want to throw in the pot from a pre-budget perspective is what the funding will look like for urban resilience, specifically around disaster risk for municipalities. So, whilst there's an injection of capital now to warrant the urban resilience programs, but also the Just Energy programmes at a municipal level, those very municipalities are also subjected to climate change, normally through the advent of inclement weather.

“We see that across many provinces, where they have really substantial issues that they have to deal with. So, I would expect to see an allocation on disaster risk also coming out.”

Godongwana will deliver Budget 2026 on Wednesday.