The City of Tshwane will fully insource its water tanker services from 1 April, effectively ending the use of private or external water tankers for routine operations in the capital.
The City’s Mayoral Committee launched a new fleet of municipal water tankers in Mamelodi, Pretoria, as part of the city’s broader water stabilisation plan. The move aims to strengthen internal capacity, address ongoing water supply challenges caused by struggling infrastructure in several areas, save costs, and reduce water tanker-related corruption that has damaged the municipality’s reputation in recent years.
Tony Maya, spokesperson for the initiative, said the new fleet will enable more effective controls, supported by 238 trained drivers. The trucks will supply water to affected communities, including Hammanskraal, parts of Soshanguve, and other impacted areas.
“From the 1st of April, we are moving 100% to city-led water tankers. There won’t be any service providers that will be providing water for the city,” Maya stated.
As a safety backup measure, the City has budgeted R126 million for emergency private water tankers if needed. This represents a sharp 79% reduction in private water tanker expenditure, down from over R600 million to about R126 million in the draft 2026/27 budget recently tabled by the municipality.
Thirteen of the new trucks are already in service, with the remaining two scheduled for deployment next month. This brings the City’s total municipal fleet to 41 tankers, marking a deliberate shift away from an outsourced model that proved costly and difficult to manage.
The insourcing forms part of short-, medium-, and long-term plans, which the City hopes will also help attract more investors.
While the City is adamant that the new trucks are not a pre-election sweetener, residents in the launch area expressed hope that water tankers would not become a permanent solution. They called for proper infrastructure upgrades so that water can be delivered through pipes directly into homes, allowing them to “flush like the same way people in Sandton are flushing.”
Tshwane has over 500 informal settlements with limited or no infrastructure for potable water, keeping the City under pressure to rely on tankers. Residents urged authorities to prioritise the formalisation of squatter camps, noting that these areas cost the government significantly.
“They must not be permanent trucks to give us the water. We want the water from the pipe,” one resident said.
As an interim measure, the City plans to prioritise boreholes and communal taps in all informal settlements.
The municipality spends over R600 million from the human settlements budget on water provision alone and R100 million on sanitation. Officials emphasised the need for alternatives to address this overspending.
Tshwane Executive Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya described the tanker fleet as merely an interim solution, stressing that infrastructure upgrades and development remain the City’s main priority.
“We are putting R20 million to procure additional tankers. For pipe replacement, we are putting R101 million. So that should give you an indication of where the money is going,” the Mayor said. “You will see that for wastewater upgrades, we are putting R158.9 million.”
With R20 million set aside in the current financial year, the City aims to eventually procure up to 100 trucks for safety and operational integrity. All trucks will be monitored through tracking devices and, where threats exist, escorted by Metro Police.
The launch and budget adjustments signal a broader effort to restore fiscal discipline, improve service delivery, and move towards sustainable water solutions in a city still grappling with ageing infrastructure and rapid urban growth in informal areas.