South African Business 2021

OVERVIEW
Water
Infrastructure spending will have to be consistently high.
SECTOR INSIGHT
The National Cleaner
Production Centre South
Africa is finding ways to use
less water.
Amatola Water.
The National Department of Water and Sanitation has
released a master plan in response to the severe droughts
that have affected the country in recent years. It calls
for annual investment for a decade of R3.3-billion in
infrastructure to achieve water security. This is a figure that can
only be achieved with the help of the private sector.
In 2030 South African demand for water will be 17%
greater than supply. That is the verdict of the 2030 Water
Resources Group, an international consortium of private
companies, agencies and development banks that has
established a South African chapter, the Strategic Water
Partners Network.
The National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC)
is the technical partner for the water use part of Phase 2 of the
Strategic Water Sector Cooperation between the governments
of Denmark and South Africa. NCPC, which runs the Industrial
Water Efficiency project, has found that more efficient use of
energy (a key focus area of its work) has also led to less water
being used in production processes.
A strategic review led Aveng to dispose of Aveng Water and
Aveng Namibia Water in June 2019, together with a range of
other businesses deemed to be non-core. The buyer was Infinity
Partners, a 100% black-owned company jointly held by investor
E-Squared Investments and Suzie Nkambule, who was the MD of
Aveng Water up until the time it was sold.
Another sale in 2019 resulted in Inzalo Capital Holdings taking
a 60% stake in the water group of Sebata Group Holdings. The two
companies affected are USC Metering and Amanzi Meters which,
as a result of the transaction,
qualify as “Black Industrialist”
businesses in terms of the Black
Industrialist Policy (BIP) of the
Department of Trade, Industry
and Competition (dtic).
The Western Cape, which
bore the brunt of a fierce
drought for several years, fares
well in terms of providing water
infrastructure and maintaining
its wastewater treatments
plants. The Western Cape
Department of Agriculture
has launched a climate action
plan called Smart Agri which
includes doing studies on
conservation agriculture.
When the long-term
drought was at its worst,
tourists to Cape Town were
encouraged to “Save like a
Local”. Together with a range
of technical and legislative
measures, the campaign
to use less water worked
remarkably well.
The drought also led
to creative thinking by
corporate South Africa. Old
Mutual’s large Pinelands
campus (accommodating
approximately 9 000 staff
members) is producing its own
water by purifying wastewater.
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2021
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