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Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613925889015808 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Leuna-Obioha, Juliet |
| author2 | Swilling, Mark |
| author_browse | Leuna-Obioha, Juliet Swilling, Mark |
| author_facet | Swilling, Mark Leuna-Obioha, Juliet |
| author_sort | Leuna-Obioha, Juliet |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136286 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:43:54.041Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136286 Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective Leuna-Obioha, Juliet Swilling, Mark Murau, Steffen Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Centre for Sustainability Transitions. Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Leuna-Obioha, J. 2026. Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/78d64f68-84f7-454c-a30f-7dfb9f90ac54 South Africa’s municipal water crisis has increasingly been linked to weaknesses in intergovernmental financial arrangements rather than to physical water scarcity alone. This study examines how financial flows between a metropolitan water utility and a bulk water supplier shape the viability of water service provision, using the relationship between Johannesburg Water (JW) and Rand Water Board (RWB) as a focused case study. Covering the period 2014–2024, the research traces observable financial flows including water sales, payment receipts, arrears, borrowing, and capital expenditure using audited financial statements and publicly available reports. The study adopts a desk-based case study approach, drawing on Critical Macro-Finance as a conceptual framing and applying the Monetary Architecture Framework (MAF) approach to interpret financial relationships as interactions between interlocking balance sheets. Rather than treating financial distress as a generic governance failure, the analysis shows how persistent payment delays and arrears at the municipal level transmit liquidity stress along the monetary chain, affecting the balance-sheet capacity and investment behaviour of upstream water institutions. The findings indicate that the breakdown in water infrastructure investment in Johannesburg is associated with misaligned financial flows between JW and RWB, where revenue collection constraints at the municipal level coincide with rising receivables and borrowing pressures at the bulk supplier. The MFA approach helps explain how institutional mandates, payment structures, and balance-sheet constraints interact to produce systemic vulnerabilities that are not visible through conventional sectoral or budgetary analyses. By grounding the analysis in detailed financial evidence from a single institutional relationship, this study demonstrates how a monetary architecture perspective can deepen understanding of South Africa’s municipal water challenges. The findings suggest that addressing infrastructure failure requires attention to payment systems, balance-sheet relationships, and institutional financial design, rather than relying solely on increased funding allocations or infrastructure spending targets. Masters 2026-04-30T17:15:31Z 2026-04-30T17:15:31Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136286 en Stellenbosch University 178 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Leuna-Obioha, Juliet Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective |
| title | Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective |
| title_full | Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective |
| title_fullStr | Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective |
| title_short | Financing South Africa’s Water Infrastructure - the Critical Macro-Finance Perspective |
| title_sort | financing south africa s water infrastructure the critical macro finance perspective |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136286 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leunaobiohajuliet financingsouthafricaswaterinfrastructurethecriticalmacrofinanceperspective |