The City of Mbombela in Mpumalanga charges owners of properties supplied by boreholes R406.50 for a residential property and R877.12 for a business from 1 July 2026, according to its 2026/27 sewer tariff schedule. The borehole charges sit in the city’s drainage and sewerage tariffs and are about 6% higher than last year. They have drawn criticism from opposition councillors and AfriForum, while the Department of Water and Sanitation says most households do not have to register their boreholes with the state.
What the Mbombela tariff schedule says
The charges are in the city’s tariff schedule for 2026/2027, which Council approved at a special meeting on 29 May 2026. The city gave notice under section 75 of the Municipal Systems Act and said the determinations apply to its Drainage and Sewerage Services By-Laws. They took effect on 1 July 2026.
Under the heading “Boreholes”, the schedule covers “water supplied through boreholes connected to the house/business/property system and other means of water supply to the property.” It lists four amounts: R406.50 for residential properties, R877.12 for businesses, R8 953.92 for Greenway Woods and R6 688.15 for Pine Lake Inn. The schedule does not say what the two named properties are or how their amounts were worked out.
The year before, the 2025/26 schedule listed R383.50, R827.47, R8 447.09 and R6 309.57 for the same four lines. Each amount has therefore risen by 6%.
Two details matter for readers. The borehole lines do not say “per month” beside the amounts, although the basic sewer charges just above them are expressly monthly, and BusinessTech reported the borehole amounts as monthly. We could not confirm the billing period from the schedule alone. Also, BusinessTech described R8 953.20 as a ceiling for properties with several boreholes. The schedule instead shows R8 953.92 as the figure for one named property.
The same schedule sets a basic sewer charge of R98.18 a month for residential stands, whether or not the service is used, and charges domestic sewerage by the kilolitre of water consumed, with the first 6kl free. A borehole charge is therefore an additional line for properties that do not draw all their water from the municipal network.
Criticism and what the report says about other towns
BusinessTech reports that Freedom Front Plus councillor Ken Robertson argued residents are being penalised for securing their own water when municipal supply is unreliable, and that the ANC-led council rejected a motion to scrap the charges. We found no council minutes or party statement on that motion, so it rests on that report, as does his view that tanker spending should go to permanent infrastructure. The tariff schedule itself records that the 29 May tariff determinations were accepted by a unanimous Council decision, so any motion would have been a separate matter.
AfriForum’s environmental affairs manager Lambert de Klerk told BusinessTech that municipalities must explain how the charges are calculated and why fixed levies apply to water that never reaches the sewer. The city’s own water schedule for 2026/27 also keeps in force “drought relief” tariffs, introduced because dam levels feeding the Mbombela supply areas are low, and these stay until further notice.
BusinessTech also named Mangaung, which it says charges R70 a month, and Abaqulusi in KwaZulu-Natal, which it says charges R133 a month in Vryheid. We could not find either figure in the municipalities’ published tariff documents, and we found no Abaqulusi schedule at all. Treat both as unverified until those municipalities confirm their approved tariffs.
The national position on boreholes
National rules are separate from municipal charges. BusinessTech reported on 22 July that the Department of Water and Sanitation confirmed in writing, through the lobby group OUTA, that households using borehole water for reasonable domestic purposes do not need to register. Schedule 1 of the National Water Act exempts low-impact uses such as reasonable household use and watering a small non-commercial garden.
According to Rekord’s account of the same clarification, the department said Schedule 1 domestic users cannot be penalised or prosecuted for failing to register. Commercial, agricultural, industrial and other high-volume users must still register with the relevant Catchment Management Agency. The department also confirmed that municipal by-law requirements for boreholes remain separate from the national registration process.
That separation is why a household can be exempt from national registration and still be billed locally. Rekord reported that the City of Tshwane lets owners drill and use boreholes provided they comply with its water supply by-laws. Owners may have to notify the metro before drilling, declare existing boreholes if asked, and obtain approval for drinking use, and direct connections to the municipal network are prohibited.
The tariff question comes against a background of strained municipal water supply. We have covered the water outage rates in Durban and Johannesburg, and Rand Water’s warning to Gauteng municipalities that it may cut supply. Our report on the rise in municipal debt to R185bn shows the financial pressure on the councils that set these charges.
