Winburg is losing: A historic South African town in distress

Winburg, a small mixed-farming community often recognised as the oldest proclaimed town in the Free State, is facing a crippling collapse of basic services.

Today, its estimated 15,000 residents say they feel “totally forgotten.” Consistent sewage spills in streets, roads, entire football fields, gardens and streams poison the town’s eventual drinking water.

Electricity and water outages drag on for years, sewage flows unchecked across open fields, and half-finished development projects stand as hollow reminders of promises made but never delivered.

“Nobody is listening, please help us. We are suffering. Kids are walking to school through sewage,” resident Puthi Mohapi told Newsday.

The town is steeped in history. Founded in 1837 after land negotiations between Voortrekker leader Andries Hendrik Potgieter and Bataung Chief Makwana, it rose to prominence as the first capital of the Orange Free State.

It was a key site during the Second Anglo-Boer War, hosting two British concentration camps: one for Boers, and another for Black Africans.

Makeleketla in Winburg has a history in the anti apartheid movement, with several of its women key to the 1956 Women’s March against the apartheid government’s decision to extend pass laws.

Winburg falls under the Masilonyana Local Municipality, which governs four towns and serves roughly 65,000 people, each facing grave service delivery issues.

Yet the municipality itself is in disarray. For nine consecutive years, it has received disclaimed audits from the Auditor-General (AG), reflecting what oversight bodies describe as a collapse of accountability, transparency, and leadership.

Millions are owed to Eskom, workers had gone months without pay before, and infrastructure budgets are either underspent or diverted.

A 2025 AG briefing to Parliament painted a grim picture: inaccurate financial statements, unaccounted irregular expenditure, and ineffective recovery plans.

Essential services such as water, sanitation, and environmental management have been neglected, while consequence management for mismanagement remains virtually absent.

Gregory Coetzee, Audit Manager in the AG’s Office, told SCOPA the AG is concerned that the municipality is not financially viable and has not implemented a financial recovery plan nor outlined strategies in the financial statements.

Despite provincial interventions and the appointment of consultants, dysfunction persists.

The toll on residents is stark. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), in a damning report, found Masilonyana in violation of multiple constitutional and environmental laws.

It highlighted how communities endure water cuts without notice, rivers are polluted by untreated sewage, and landfill sites are run without proper oversight.

The watchdog condemned the municipality as a danger to both people and the environment.

What was once a historic hub of religion, farming, and trade has now become a symbol of decay. This does not mean there are not pockets of bright sparks in the town.

However, for Winburg’s residents, the legacy of their town is being overshadowed by failing governance, and there is no relief in sight.

Football fields of sewage polluting drinking water

Sanitation services are in tatters, particularly in Makeleketla, where raw sewage even floods the football fields.

It was the site of the provincial Human Rights commemoration in March 2025, where the provincial government said it would heed calls from residents for improved service delivery.

“Look at this swimming pool of poo. This was our children’s soccer fields. It’s gone, it’s just sewage,” said Makeleketla resient Mohapi.

In one part of the township, one granny described how raw sewage often floods her home, with the remnants chest high. “I couldn’t stop crying,” she said.

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) Green Drop report, the Winburg Waste Water Treatment plant is in a critical state, echoed by the municipality’s SAHRC submission that in its purview “are in poor condition and dilapidated.”

This results in untreated sewage pumped directly into the dam used for drinking water, meeting running, raw sewage common across the town, which lands in fresh water sources that flow to the dam.

The town draws its raw water from Rietfontein Dam and pumps it to 2 other dams. But, the water purifying plant from that dam is not functioning properly.

According to the DWS’ Blue Drop Report, the Winburg water supply system, from abstraction to the water treatment works to the points of use, has a “dire state of management and drinking water quality.”

Yet in its last financial report to the AG, the municipality disclosed spending of R0 on repairing and maintaining infrastructure assets.

Newsday was barred access from the purification plant, but images from around it shows that it is in tatters.

Electricity and water woes

Several years ago, parcels of land were allocated for housing. Yet, these stands were, and continue to be unserviced.

“Don’t let these electricity polls fool you. They have never had power,” said longtime resident and DA councillor Brun Russouw, discussing unserviced stands in her ward.

Additionally, there are many billing disputes, with the power having been cut to the Post Office the day Newsday visited, the day they were supposed to be open for pension payout day.

Looking at water, the town’s residents without access to a borehole do not have water in the evenings due to rationing, however the new municipal manager said that this is soon to change.

The municipality said that Winburg is set to receive water from the Vaal Central Water Board, yet this will take large amounts of funding and time, and an uphill battle with limited and ailing existing infrastructure.

In June, the Free State High Court granted the SAHRC an order compelling the municipality to take action to ensure access to drinking water, particularly in Winburg, Makeleketla, as well as the surrounding informal settlement of Motsemotsha. 

Municipality spokesperson, Zongezile Ntjwabule, said the municipality would comply with the judgment.

However, Ntjwabule said the municipality is of the view that there must be an appreciation of the extent of challenges it faces to provide a sustainable water in Winburg and Makeleketla.

He said the municipality is grappling with severe problems, particularly with aging water and sanitation systems, which include the water treatment plant and reservoirs.

In the meantime, many residents are forced to fetch water, including from Russouw’s borehole that is advertised with a large “water” sign.

“It’s appalling what has happened to Winburg,” the former school principal said. “There is no consequence management and because of it, the people suffer,” she added.

This was echoed by the AG, who said that there are inadequate or no consequences for blundered money or abandoned projects meant for services.

Municipal buildings decaying

Many of the municipal assets in Winburg are in a state of disrepair.

Sports grounds lie overgrown and stripped bare, swimming pools with trees growing out of them, municipal clinics closed, and the town hall shows signs of neglect.

Public spaces that should serve as community hubs are instead reminders of the municipality’s chronic mismanagement.

The municipality has cited financial constraints as the reason for this decay. Rossouw acknowledges that limited funds are a reality, noting that the municipality collects only around 9% of its revenue.

However, she said that “while financial constraints are real, the root cause is a lack of consequence management,”

Poor oversight and weak accountability structures have allowed officials to evade responsibility, leaving essential services and infrastructure to deteriorate unchecked.

Government response

According to a SCOPA statement, Masilonyana failed to achieve any of its service delivery targets for the 2023/24 financial year.

It underspent conditional grants by R174 million and National Treasury withheld R19 million due to slow implementation of projects.

It also has no proper standard operating procedures to govern the method of grant funding utilisation.

Masilonyana admitted to the SAHRC that it faces crippling administrative, financial, and service delivery challenges.

Municipal Manager Mojalefa Matlole and Acting Technical Director Kabelo Masekoa told the panel that when they took office, most senior officials were suspended, leaving the municipality without leadership.

This, coupled with years of unresponsiveness to community complaints, has worsened service delivery.

The municipality has received audit disclaimers for over nine years, survives largely on equitable grants, and only recently managed to pay salaries after appointing a new CFO.

Motlole and Masekoa admitted that the municipality faces pollution problems, with sewage leaks and contamination of water sources under investigation and township establishment and electrification projects are planned.

Responding to SAHRC questions, the municipality admitted to underspending grants but pledged urgent interventions, including a mobile purification plant in Winburg.

This was similar to the response in a July 2025 oversight meeting, but with more finger pointing.

Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae promised an investigation into Masilonyana following public disputes between Mayor Dimakatso Modise and Matlole in the oversight meeting.

Addressing Parliament, she said, “I am worried about the defiance that we see from Masilonyana… However, I want to assure this committee that I will set foot on the leadership of Masilonyana local municipality and an investigation will be launched.”

“In three months, a report will be handed to you chairperson.”

Her commitment was supported by MEC for Finance and Economic Development Ketso Makume: “The department regularly meets with Masilonyana local municipality because it is one of the distressed municipalities in the province.”

“We will report back to the committee in three months, particularly on financial mismanagement.”

Modise said in the recent IDP that her focus is on key service delivery priorities, including providing a reliable and clean water supply, ensuring proper and decent sanitation, maintaining regular refuse removal, upgrading roads, and creating an enabling environment for job creation.

Other images of Winburg