Does SA have the skills to back up water sector investment?
THE African Union-AIP Water Investment Summit 2025, held in Cape Town in August, secured USD 10 billion in investment commitments for the continent. Yet water infrastructure spend must be matched by investment in skills and professionalisation, says Dr Lester Goldman, CEO of the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA).
“Without the right skills, infrastructure investment becomes an exercise in futility,” he warns.
Days before the summit, President Ramaphosa opened the new System 5A Water Purification Plant at Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch Station in Vereeniging.
The plant adds 600 million litres of potable water daily – enough for 2.4 million people. But Goldman stresses that infrastructure must be supported by human capacity: leadership, management, and technical expertise, all operating in a dependency chain.
Leaders in the sector are often not water experts but depend on the technical proficiency of process controllers and engineers. Regulation 3630, gazetted in June 2023, requires that water services works be supervised by at least a Class V process controller registered with WISA and committed to continuous professional development.
However, many municipalities have resisted compliance, citing budget constraints or fear of not meeting standards.
Goldman calls this short-sighted: “Maintaining skills costs less than repairing broken infrastructure. Professionalisation is a career enhancer, not
an obstacle.”
Regulation 3630 aims to boost accountability, transparency, and performance. “Water investment is welcome, but people are just as critical as pipes and plants,” Goldman concludes, urging municipalities to engage WISA to secure South Africa’s water future.
