KZN launches plan to roll out 5G in rural areas
Premier Thami Ntuli says the Public-Private Partnership is aimed at boosting connectivity as part of a broader digital inclusion strategy.
READ | Discussing the analogue switch off with Minister of Communication and Digital
But, can it improve living standards, create jobs and strengthen emergency response capabilities in underserved areas? Reporter Nkosikhona Malinga-Mnisi has more.
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The Herald
06-08-2025
- The Herald
R400m and counting: public sector bosses cash in as SOEs flounder
MP and DA deputy spokesperson on public service and administration Leah Potgieter has criticised "rampant executive spending" across public entities. Portgieter said more than R400m is spent annually on executive salaries across 117 entities and likely more across the full landscape of nearly 700 state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The DA highlighted entities including: Transnet, where the CEO earns R8.5m despite operational failures and a R47bn bailout; The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa paying its CEO R7.8m amid audit disclaimers and service collapse; paying its CEO R7.8m amid audit disclaimers and service collapse; The Road Accident Fund, where the CEO earns R7.1m even though the fund is technically insolvent; Rand Water, where ongoing service delivery failures contrast with the CEO's R5.4m remuneration. 'This reflects a broken system with weak oversight and eroded public accountability,' said Potgieter. The party called on the public service and administration minister to establish a standardised executive remuneration framework for public entities, enforce mandatory disclosure and justification when salary norms are exceeded and work with parliament on systemic governance reforms in line with public service principles. 'The excessive salaries remain not only unjustifiable but an affront to the millions of South Africans who rely on basic services that are consistently failing,' she said. This comes after a parliamentary reply shed light on the multi-million rand remuneration packages received by CEOs and top executives at SOEs and financial institutions. DA MP Jan Naudé de Villiers asked the finance minister to provide full details for the total remuneration, benefits and bonuses of CEOs and the most senior officials at state-owned and state-linked entities reporting to him. In his response the minister revealed total pay, benefits and performance bonuses of senior officials in public finance institutions such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the South African Revenue Service, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and the Financial Services Providers (FAIS) ombud. He also revealed many operate outside the salary guidelines set by the department of public service and administration. The annual remuneration report from the 2023/24 office of the FAIS ombud showed five top executives earned a combined total of more than R9.5m. The highest-paid executive was CFO Shaun Maharaj, who earned a total package of R2.4m in 2023/24, including a base salary of R1.89m, a performance bonus of nearly R100,000 and other benefits. Ombud John Simpson earned R2.3m despite receiving no pension contribution or performance bonus. In the 2024/25 financial year, Maharaj's package increased to R2.7m including a performance bonus of more than R319,000 while Simpson's total package rose modestly to R2.5m. In his response the finance minister highlighted that the FAIS ombud does not follow department of public service and administration salary scales. 'The office operates in a highly specialised industry with a unique structure. Market remuneration benchmark survey data is used to determine internal pay scales using the Hay grading system.' The Development Bank of Southern Africa stood out as the highest payer with its CEO earning R10.5m in 2023/24, an amount that jumped to R15.5m in 2024/25. This includes guaranteed pay, allowances, benefits and variable pay. The minister confirmed bank is not governed by department of public service and administration remuneration limits. At the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, the commissioner earns a cost-to-company salary of R5.8mn which includes a monthly employer retirement fund contribution of R47,774 and he does not receive a bonus. The authority also falls outside of department of public service and administration control. 'Authority remuneration is cost-to-employer. There are no allowances and the bonus plan does not apply to the commissioner,' said the minister. The Government Employees Pension Fund pays its principal executive officer a base salary of R4m with additional allowances and retirement contributions bringing the total to R6.7m. For the 2023/24 financial year the executive also received short- and long-term incentive bonuses totalling R3.2m, pushing the overall remuneration above R9m. The minister said the fund also does not follow department of public service and administration remuneration rules, instead benchmarking against private sector norms. The Revenue Service commissioner received a guaranteed package of R8.2m with a R2m performance bonus paid in 2024/25 for the previous year's performance. A bonus of R2.4m was paid the year before. The minister said the service is governed by its own legislation and is not subject to the department of public service and administration guidelines. Several other state-linked entities also reported significant pay packages: C+South African Special Risks Insurance Association CEO: R4.6m basic salary and R1.8m bonus in 2023/24. Financial Intelligence Centre director: R3.6m package, no bonuses. Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors CEO: R4.78m. Land Bank CEO: R4.94m, with additional cellphone and petrol allowances. No bonuses paid yet for 2024/25. Ombud Council chief ombud: R2.93m salary plus R28,000 bonus in 2023/24. Entities which did report compliance with department of public service and administration guidelines are the Government Technical Advisory Centre, where the acting head earns R1.9m, and the government Pension Administration Agency, where the CEO earned R2.2m with no bonuses. TimesLIVE
The Citizen
31-07-2025
- The Citizen
Fixing SA's water woes means curtailing municipalities' free-spending ways
A look at two reforms that aim to thwart municipalities' spendthrift ways. The seemingly impossible task of preventing municipalities from spending water and electricity revenues on salaries and other services has been debated at national level for more than a decade. Now, it is finally receiving the attention it deserves. Two reforms in particular aim to curtail municipalities' spendthrift ways. National Treasury's amended Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) regulations came into effect in June, exempting infrastructure projects below R2 billion from some of the more cumbersome procurement processes. This will unlock opportunities at the municipal level, says Chito Siame, head of private equity at Mergence Investment Managers. 'In water, this could support more localised projects such as wastewater upgrades, pipe replacement, or alternative water sources in drought-prone areas,' says Siame. Read more BLSA welcomes approach to performance and accountability of municipalities 'Encouragingly, there is also movement on project preparation and financial structuring, supported by development finance institutions and the Infrastructure Fund. These reforms signal growing alignment between the public sector's development goals and the private sector's capacity to deliver at scale.' ALSO READ: Fixing SA's water crisis starts with accountability Ring-fencing and SPVs Another planned reform is to ring-fence electricity and water revenues at the municipal level to ensure funds are used specifically for maintaining and upgrading related infrastructure. In theory, municipalities are expected to spend 8% of their property, plant and equipment valuations on maintenance, but very few do. Some do close to zero. The result is visible across the country in untended water leaks, deteriorating roads and electricity outages. Municipalities owe Eskom close to R100 billion and a further R23.4 billion to SA's nine water boards. Revenues are being collected from residents and, in many cases, not paid over. Money is being used at a frightening rate to fund ever-larger salary bills and other services (including tenders). Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai, speaking at a PSG Think Big presentation this week, said the ring-fencing of municipal water revenues will go a long way to recovering the nearly R8 billion it is owed for bulk water services. 'Water services are highly profitable for municipalities, but these funds are used for other services. In the future it will be ring-fenced, and that will go a long way to servicing this debt.' Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke sees municipalities as a particularly weak link in the governance chain, with mayors, municipal councils and executive teams failing in their oversight duties. 'When councils are unstable, performance suffers, budgets go unfunded, and infrastructure crumbles,' said Maluleke at a recent press briefing. Kasief Isaacs, CEO of Creation Capital, which will launch an infrastructure fund later this year, says private sector partnerships are one way to fix municipal water issues, but these require special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to manage the service end-to-end and to preserve the water revenue stream. To function effectively, these SPVs must have their own management and budget. 'One of the problems we have faced up to now is around this issue of ring-fencing. Another issue is interdepartmental dependencies. You dig up a road to repair a broken pipe or need to procure a subcontract and are forced to rely on other departments for these services. Those interdependencies are difficult to manage. The SPV should be allowed to manage this entire process,' says Isaacs. ALSO READ: Rand Water maintenance deepens Joburg water crisis eThekwini breaks the ice In April, the eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal announced it would follow National Treasury's guidance and ring-fence revenues from water sales to ensure it had sufficient budget to repair and maintain its water infrastructure, reduce non-revenue water and illegal connections, and repair leaks. Not surprisingly, eThekwini reports a significant reduction in water leaks and is now in the procurement stage to bring in a private sector partner to help reduce non-revenue water. There has been stiff opposition from the unions to the government's tentative embrace of PPPs, which are seen by some as a betrayal of the national democratic revolution. They would rather see municipalities better managed than handed over to private operators for profit. These fears are not unfounded, as customers of Thames Water in London discovered. It was privatised in 1989 and over the years paid out £10.4 billion in dividends while accumulating close to £20 billion in debt, much of which was used to fund these payouts rather than fix ageing infrastructure. By 2023, it was said to be close to financial collapse, prompting the UK government to consider nationalising it. 'Rather than viewing PPPs as a threat to municipal control, we should frame them as enablers, tools to deliver better outcomes, strengthen financial sustainability, and ensure that communities receive the reliable services they deserve,' says Siame. 'Standardised PPP templates, municipal support programmes and ring-fenced revenue models could go a long way to building trust and capability in this space.' In the future municipal water services could be run by water boards, private operators, or the municipalities themselves, provided they meet the standards required. The two privately run water systems operating in SA – Siza Water in Ballito in KwaZulu-Natal and Silulumanzi in Mbombela, Mpumalanga – have achieved enviable efficiencies, with water losses of 15-20% against the national average of 47%, all while supplying the 250 000 and 500 000 customers in both areas considered indigent – meaning they get free basic water. The question is, does SA have a water shortage or a leaking pipe problem? Actually, it has both. National rainfall is about half the global average, but nearly half the water distributed is lost to leaks and other problems. Non-revenue water – water that earns no revenue – exceeds 47% nationally, which is way ahead of the global average of 37%. The cost of this is conservatively estimated to be north of R7 billion a year. It simply leaks away, untreated and unbilled. The reasons are many: burst pipes, degraded infrastructure, broken pumps, and increasingly, sabotage. The water boards are generally well run, so the problem is happening at the municipal level. Moneyweb previously reported on criminal gangs deliberately destroying municipal infrastructure so the water mafias can sell water from tankers at extortionate rates – often with the connivance of councillors. ALSO READ: At least R900 billion needed to fix SA's water woes Operation Vulindlela The water issue also has the attention of President Cyril Ramaphosa's Operation Vulindlela, aimed at reforming key bottlenecks to promote faster economic growth. It's in the process of establishing a National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency to take over the functions, staff, and assets of the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, responsible for feeding water to Gauteng. This will be flanked by the appointment of a new Independent Economic Regulator for the water sector and the establishment of a Water Partnerships Office to assist in implementing performance-based contracts to reduce non-revenue water at six metros – eThekwini, Tshwane, Mangaung, Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay and Polokwane. Part of the funding for this will come from the newly created Infrastructure Fund, which ultimately aims to manage around R100 billion and disburse a range of financing options for infrastructure projects. Parliament is also reviewing the Water Services Amendment Bill, which aims to separate water service authorities (mainly municipalities responsible for water delivery) from water service providers (such as Rand Water, which supplies municipalities in bulk). Under the current Water Services Act, municipalities often act as both water service authorities and providers, meaning they regulate themselves. This leads to weak oversight, poor accountability, and mismanagement. The evidence shows they frequently fail to enforce performance standards such as water quality or address inefficiencies like non-revenue water losses. All of this will hopefully culminate in municipalities being stripped of many of the powers and privileges that helped create the national water crisis in the first place. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
eNCA
29-07-2025
- eNCA
Whistleblower flagged school nutrition scandal in 2019
DURBAN - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli has received explanations from two MECs accused of tender irregularities. Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka is accused of interfering in an almost R3-billion nutrition programme. A company he co-founded is involved in the bidding process. On the other hand, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane is being questioned about her family business. It allegedly benefited improperly from government contracts. In 2019, whistleblower Thabiso Zulu warned in an exclusive interview with eNCA that the school nutrition tenders were a ticking time bomb. "It remains a criminal site over the years that school nutrition has been turned into a tenderpreneur syndicate where those who are connected to politicians are making their money," Zulu said.
