South Africa’s Water utility, Magalies Water has a new Chief Executive Officer, following the departure of the former CEO Sandile Mkhize.
The Magalies Water Board appointed the former Chief Operations Officer, Ofentse Nthutang who has also been acting as the CEO since July 2024 for a period of five years.
The utility spokesperson David Magae said that Nthutang was appointed following a rigorous recruitment process, with effect from June 1st 2025.
“Nthutang, whose substantive position was Chief Operations Officer at the entity, starting in September 2023, initially joined the water utility as its General Manager – Engineering Services. He was appointed acting Chief Executive from July 2024 following the departure of his predecessor, Sandile Mkhize,” said Magae.
The entity said that Nthutang has vast experience in government and the private sector.
“The newly appointed Chief Executive is also a registered Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (Civil) from the University of the Witwatersrand, a certificate for Investment Analysis and Risk Analysis from Queen’s University in Canada and has completed his MBA with the University of Reading, Henley Business School,” explained Magae.
Meanwhile, Nthutang said he’s fully cognizant of the path ahead, adding that the entity is still adjusting to the recent sectoral reforms undertaken during the previous administration.
He further outlines some of his plans over his tenure to address several pressing challenges.
“Magalies Water was a relatively small water board prior to the disestablishment of the erstwhile Sedibeng Water and has doubled in terms of its workforce and finds itself operating in the entire North West.
“We have already as a measure of proactiveness following the proclamation of our expanded service area commenced a process of reviewing and updating our Bulk Water and Sanitation Master Plan to cover the entire province,” remarked Nthutang.
In addition, Nthutang said that another matter of importance that the organisation intends to sharply focus on is its financial liquidity, which was a result of the inherited debt which was transferred to Magalies Water as part of the disestablishment process.
“While there has been great progress with respect to financial recovery strategies, more work still needs to be done. We have signed several payment agreements, and the debt is starting to translate into a reduced balance sheet of our debt book.
“However, given that we’re not funded from the national fiscus, we intend to double our efforts while being supported by the board of the entity on debt recovery implementation plans.
“We’re focused on ensuring that the government achieves its National Development Plan 2030 targets on improved access to water and sanitation services,” concluded Nthutang.
