Almost a year into office, North West-based water utility Magalies Water Chief Executive Officer Ofentse Nthutang has expressed confidence in the work done since taking over the reins in June 2025.
The Magalies Water Board appointed Nthutang as Acting Chief Executive in July 2024 following the departure of his predecessor, before permanently appointing him in June the following year.
Reflecting on his first year as CEO, Nthutang, whose substantive position was Chief Operations Officer at the entity from September 2023, initially joined the water utility as General Manager for Engineering Services.
“That has assisted me greatly in doing my job, especially with the six years I have spent at the institution and the various senior leadership positions I have held.
“I served as General Manager for Engineering Services, which is mainly the portfolio responsible for planning capital infrastructure projects within the organisation and overseeing their implementation.
“That, in a sense, helped me to develop a broader view of what the organisation really needs to focus on in terms of its growth-point strategy,” said Nthutang.
He said the first task at hand, following the disestablishment of the former Sedibeng Water and its integration into Magalies Water, was to ensure a smooth transition and build one unified organisation.
“That has been the main task, particularly while I was still the COO, because I was also heading the transitional project to ensure that we onboarded Sedibeng Water into Magalies Water. We are now almost 90% complete in concluding the transitional process.
“There are still some legacy issues outstanding within the organisation, and we are working really hard to resolve those aspects,” explained Nthutang.
The water utility’s CEO said they have already completed the process of reviewing and updating the entity’s Bulk Water and Sanitation Master Plan to cover the entire province.
“We have now concluded the master plan, which looks at the overall long-term water security of the entire North West province.
“We know where the hotspots are in terms of water provision within the province, and through this master plan we have developed strategies to address them,” explained Nthutang.
Furthermore, Nthutang said work is continuing to ensure that the water purification plant under construction in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, is completed within a reasonable timeframe.
“The project should have been completed more than a year ago, but there were challenges relating to operational implementation, including the discovery of hard rock, delays in the arrival of off-site components at the plant, power outages affecting production, and relentless torrential rain, among others,” remarked Nthutang.
