A sweeping investigation has found that widespread service delivery failures across municipalities in the North West Province are not isolated lapses but a systemic breakdown of local governance in the province.
Conducted by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), it found that the breakdown is violating residents’ most basic constitutional rights on a daily basis.
“Over the years, the Commission, through its North West Provincial Office, has been inundated with service delivery complaints against various municipalities across all four districts of the North West Province.”
Published in November 2025, the North West Service Delivery – Final Investigative Report analysed 84 pending complaints across multiple municipalities.
The Commission concluded that chronic failures in water supply, sanitation, waste management, and infrastructure amount to ongoing breaches of rights.
This includes those relating to human dignity, sufficient water, sanitation, housing, freedom of movement, and an environment not harmful to health and well-being.
“These failures are compounded by weak governance, poor planning, and the nonexistence of credible maintenance systems,” noted the SAHRC.
The failures, the report notes, have persisted despite years of court orders, adverse audit outcomes, and repeated oversight warnings, painting a picture of entrenched non-compliance and neglect.
Water and sanitation
The most severe and widespread rights violations relate to water and sanitation.
Across multiple municipalities, the Commission found persistent and prolonged water interruptions. Citing Statistics South Africa’s 2022 data, the report highlights extreme rates of household water cuts:
- Maquassi Hills: 90.6%
- Kgetlengrivier: 88.6%
- Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District: 68%
- Ngaka Modiri Molema District: 67.7%
These disruptions leave families unable to cook, bathe, or clean, forcing many to buy water they cannot afford or fetch unsafe supplies from dams and boreholes.
Water quality is equally dire. The 2023 Blue Drop Report found 17 of 39 water systems in the province had unacceptable microbiological quality, creating “serious acute health risks.”
According to the Commission, this sustained failure violates the constitutional right to sufficient water and human dignity.
Sewage management failures were found to be chronic and widespread — with untreated waste spilling into streets, rivers, and private properties in Matlosana, JB Marks, Kgetlengrivier, Ngaka Modiri, and Rustenburg notably mentioned.
- Auditor-General findings corroborated ongoing sewage spills in Matlosana and JB Marks.
- In Matlosana, raw sewage continued to overflow in Orkney and Alabama despite a court order requiring sustainable interventions.
- In some areas, children were seen playing in open sewer streams.
The SAHRC found these conditions directly infringe the right to a safe environment and strip residents of dignity.
Waste removal, roads and stormwater systems
Beyond water and sanitation, the report details significant breakdowns in waste removal, roads, and stormwater systems — each contributing to further rights violations.
Municipalities such as Mahikeng, JB Marks, Kgetlengrivier, Maquassi Hills, and Kagisano Molopo were found to have irregular or nonexistent refuse removal.
Census data shows weekly waste collection rates as low as:
- Kagisano Molopo: 21.9%
- Kgetlengrivier: 21.9%
In Ikageng, Potchefstroom, the Commission documented piles of uncollected refuse and persistent illegal dumping along roadsides and open spaces.
This, it found, violates the rights to dignity and a healthy environment.
In many areas, roads are so degraded that they threaten safety, derail essential services, and disrupt daily life.
- In Ditsobotla, incomplete roadworks in Itsoseng Zone 2 left trenches and exposed electrical cables, hampering emergency services and even funeral processions.
- In villages under Moretele, poor road conditions disrupted scholar transport, with some children forced to walk up to 2 km to reach pick-up points — indirectly undermining their right to basic education.
Failing stormwater systems compound the danger. In Mahikeng, the Commission documented flooding near the Nelson Mandela Highway, heightening risks to homes and residents, a violation of the right to adequate housing.
A system in collapse
The SAHRC concludes that municipalities across the North West are failing to meet their constitutional and statutory duties under Sections 152 and 153 of the Constitution.
These failures, it warns, are entrenched and devastating in their impact — locking residents into cycles of poverty, ill-health, and indignity.
The Commission calls for urgent, coordinated, and systemic intervention, urging the provincial government, through COGTA, to overhaul current support measures and deploy targeted financial, technical, and governance support to restore essential services.
The report makes clear that the crisis is not a matter of isolated managerial lapses but a systemic collapse demanding a systemic solution.
Seth Thorne
newsday.co.za
