the act allowed municipalities to develop their own bulk water supply infrastructure or to buy bulk water from providers other than water boards. conversely it also allowed water boards to provide retail water services at the request of municipalities. since the act has been passed the capacity of both water boards and many water service providers has increased significantly. municipal systems act of 2000 the municipal systems act (msa) placed the responsibility for water services on local governments. it thus became each city's responsibility to provide basic water and sanitation services for all residents. the funding for improvements to water and sanitation systems would come from the national government via the municipal infrastructure grant mig or equitable shares, or via local revenue collection. free basic water policy durban was the first south african city to introduce a policy of free basic water in 1998. after thabo mbeki became president of south africa in 1999 and a cholera outbreak occurred in 2000, the african national congress promised free basic water during a municipal election campaign in december 2000. in july 2001 free basic water became a national policy through a revised tariff structure that included at least 6 "kilolitres" (cubic meters) of free water per month (40-litre per capita per day for a family of five or 25-litre per capita per day for a family of eight). the policy was being implemented gradually within the means of each municipality. management contract for johannesburg and pre-paid meters johannesburg management contract. building on earlier experiences with private sector participation since 1994, a five-year management contract for water services in johannesburg, south africa's largest city and the country's economic and financial hub, was awarded in 2000 to the joint venture water and sanitation services south africa (wssa). the johannesburg management contract was not renewed when it expired in 2005. however, private operators continue to provide services in many other south african cities. prepaid meters. 170,000 prepaid meters were installed in poor townships of johannesburg, including in soweto. prepaid meters were also installed in other cities as part of management contracts with private operators. these meters, which cut off water supply above the 6 cubic meter monthly limit if no payment is made, sparked substantial protests in poor neighbourhoods. residents of phiri, a neighborhood in soweto, sued against prepaid meters with the support of south african and international anti-privatisation activists in what has been called the mazibuko case, named after the first plaintiff. in april 2008 the south african high court found the practice of prepaid meters in soweto unconstitutional, and wrote that denying the poor access to adequate water "is to deny them the rights to health and to lead a dignified lifestyle." further, the judge stated that "25 liters per person per day is insufficient for the residents of phiri", and ordered the city to provide free basic water in the amount of 50 liters per person per day with the option of an ordinary credit-metered water supply (instead of prepaid) for more use. the court apparently assumed a household size of eight. in october 2009 the constitutional court overturned the case and declared prepaid meters to be lawful. the court case led to the development of a more social practice concerning prepaid meters. for example, the minimum amount can be increased from 6 m3 per month to 10 or even 15 m3 per month depending on the level of poverty and size of a household. also, new prepaid meters still deliver a minimum amount of 40 liter per hour under low pressure after service is cut off. furthermore, 1000 liter of "emergency water" can be used four times per year, for example to extinguish fires, even if bills should not have been paid. 2000 liter of additional water can be granted by local authorities on demand for special needs. however, not all residents are aware of these fairly complex mechanisms. basic sanitation white paper in response to the fact that access to sanitation lags significantly behind access to water, the government published its white paper on basic household sanitation in 2001. it called for universal access to basic sanitation by march 2010, with priority accorded to communities with the greatest needs. the policy outlines the roles of the various stakeholders – households, municipalities, provincial governments, various branches of national government – and establishes coordination and monitoring mechanisms. it also calls for infrastructure grants to municipalities to finance investments in sanitation. the paper notes that it is the government's policy to provide free basic services to the poorest, but does not spell out how this policy will be implemented in the case of basic sanitation. decentralisation following a second white paper on water supply and sanitation policy published in 2002 (after the first white paper in 1994) a national policy was established to further decentralise the sector, phasing out the national government's involvement in service provision, limiting dwaf's role to policy and regulation. in rural areas this policy of decentralisation has been supported by the masibambane program, a sector-wide approach linked to budget-based donor support for rural water supply and sanitation. the initial investment was zar 2.2 billion (eur 279 million) with a focus on the three poorest provinces and a target to reach about 2.5 million people. a 2004 evaluation by the water and sanitation program (wsp) africa showed that the program performed well financially. the program is now in its third phase. national sanitation strategy, bucket eradication programme and free basic sanitation implementation strategy in february 2005 the government launched a programme to eradicate the use of bucket toilets. bucket toilets consist of a bucket placed under a toilet seat; in formally established settlements the buckets are emptied on a daily basis by the municipality and the content is brought to a sewage treatment plant. however, buckets are also used in newly established informal settlements. there were 250,000 bucket toilets in formally established settlements as of 2005. there was a strong political will to carry out the program. as of march 2008, 91% of the bucket toilets were replaced by flush toilets or ventilated improved pit latrines where water was not readily available. however, communities resisted the construction of latrines, forcing construction to a standstill and asked for flush toilets. there had been no community participation in the choice of technologies. the programme was very much focused on the provision of infrastructure, with little emphasis on sustainability and hygiene promotion, so that the health impact was limited. the deadline to complete the program was moved from 2007 to 2010. in august 2005 a national sanitation strategy was published. it covers, among other things, "the roles and responsibilities in sanitation delivery, planning for sanitation, funding sanitation, implementation approaches, regulating the sanitation sector, and monitoring and evaluation". it was followed by a free basic sanitation implementation strategy in march 2009, with the aim of reaching universal access to sanitation by 2014. according to one observer, the strategy was "deliberately vague" because the issue of free provision of sanitation services is so controversial. there is no legal obligation to provide free basic sanitation. the implementation strategy includes eight different options to channel subsidies. the policy was piloted in 17 municipalities in 2010, and in a further 23 municipalities in 2011, although it is unclear which subsidy mechanism is being used. list of ministers in charge of water ministers of water affairs and forestry dr. kader asmal (1994–1999) ronnie kasrils (1999–2004) buyelwa sonjica (2004–2006) lindiwe hendricks (2006–2009) ministers of water and environmental affairs: buyelwa sonjica (2009–2010) edna molewa (2010-2014) ministers of water and sanitation: nomvula mokonyane (2014-2018) gugile nkwinti (2018-2019) ministers of human settlements, water and sanitation lindiwe sisulu (since 2019) efficiency one indicator to measure the technical efficiency of water utilities is the level of non-revenue water. in a well-managed utility that level should be below about 25%. in johannesburg, the estimated level declined from 44% in 2003 to 31% in 2006. in durban it stood at an estimated average of 31% between 2002 and 2006. in cape town the estimates fluctuated significantly between 10% and 37%, suggesting that the estimates may not be reliable. the average level of non-revenue water for south african utilities participating in the international benchmarking network for water and sanitation utilities in the 2002–2006 period was 31%. financial aspects tariff level tariffs include bulk water tariffs charged by water boards to municipalities and retail water tariffs charged by municipalities to users. bulk water tariffs vary greatly. in 2011 the largest water board, rand water, charged rand 3.97 (us$0.48) per cubic meter. the highest bulk water tariff (rand 9.11 or us$1.10 per cubic meter) was charged by the financially crippled namakwa water board, while the lowest tariff (rand 2.28 or us$0.28) was charged by the pelladrift water board. retail water tariffs vary between municipalities and between user categories, with non-residential users being charged higher tariffs than residential users. typically water tariffs also vary with consumption, with higher tariffs applied to higher consumption. the average retail water tariff in 2006 for a sample of cities and across all consumption levels was estimated to be the equivalent of us$1.06 per cubic meter. in 2010 johannesburg water provided between 6 and 15 cubic meters of water per month for free, depending on the poverty level of residents. for those considered not poor, the tariff for the tranche between 6 and 10 cubic meters was r4.93 (us$0.73), for the tranche up to 15 cubic meters it was r7.31 (us$1.08) and so on until r14.94 (us$2.21) for a consumption exceeding 40 cubic meters per month. the bill for 10 cubic meters per month thus is r20. poor households have to register themselves as "indigent" (poor), which – according to critics – leads to a situation where only a fraction of the poor receive the higher free basic water allocation to which they are eligible. in cape town water tariffs for the first block beyond free basic water are slightly lower than in johannesburg at r4.55 until 10 cubic meters, and the next tranche at r9.7 is broader than in johannesburg covering until 20 cubic meters per month, with r23,42 charged beyond 50 cubic meters, resulting in a steeper tariff structure. the water bill for 10 cubic meters per month is r18. the sewer charge is 70% of the water charge. durban distinguishes between a lower tariff for semi-pressure service for houses in low-income settlements with roof tanks and a higher full pressure service for "formal" housing areas. semi-pressure service is free until 9 cubic meters, while full-pressure service costs r9.50 per cubic meter until 9 cubic meters per month, and r11.25 until 25 cubic meters. the bill for 10 cubic meters per month is r7 for semi-pressure service and r97 for full-pressure service. there is also a free low-pressure service for ground tanks in informal and rural areas, under which water is pumped once a day to fill a 200 litres ground tank. free basic water south africa has introduced a policy of free basic services, including water, electricity and solid waste collection. as part of that policy, every household is to receive the first 6 cubic meters per month for free. the policy was introduced gradually since 2000 within the means of each municipality. each municipality decides if free basic water is made available to everyone or only to the poor. most municipalities provide free basic water to all or almost all their residents. in 2012 the program reached 86% of all households. based on an average consumption of 5 cubic meters of free water per household and month, an estimated 8 million beneficiary households, and an estimated water supply cost of 4 rand per cubic meter, the annual cost of the policy can be estimated at 2bn rand (us$280m). this corresponds to about 0.1% of gdp in 2011, or about 0.25% of government expenditures. another estimate puts the cost of free basic water at 5.84 rand per capita per month, which corresponds to 2.2bn rand per year. out of the 32 million people that received free basic water in 2005, almost half, or 15 million, were not poor. furthermore, many poor in rural areas, who receive limited amounts of water for free through standpipes, do not benefit fully. those without access to publicly provided water do not benefit at all from