South Africa receives insufficient rainfall to meet citizens’ water needs and this is compounded by deficiencies in infrastructure for water services because of inadequate investment and a lack of maintenance. Municipal public–private partnerships (PPPs) for water infrastructure are rarely utilised for several reasons. Central to this paper is the evaluation of the role played by various stakeholders in influencing the adoption and subsequent approval of municipal water PPP projects. This study critically examined the role of each stakeholder and how other stakeholders perceive their effectiveness during the approval process of water PPP projects. The conceptualisation and implementation of PPPs involves managing both the public and private stakeholders to achieve the desired outcomes. These diverse stakeholders have different values, anchored by the need for rent extraction (profit maximisation motive) or self-interest, as advanced by stakeholder theory. By means of structured interviews, participants highlighted the limitations of each stakeholder and how these contribute to the negative perception of future PPPs. The obtained data were triangulated with secondary sources. The findings confirmed the pursuit of self-interest by various stakeholders, impacting the pace of PPP adoption of municipal water projects.

The Journal of Local Government Research and Innovation (JOLGRI) focuses on improving the system of local governance and to proffer local government as the major stakeholder for development in South Africa and the globe.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa considers access to water a basic right for all citizens, and it assigns the responsibility of water provision to municipalities. Nevertheless, water access is not yet available to all citizens, for several reasons. South Africa is the thirtieth-driest country worldwide and has severe water-infrastructure backlogs from insufficient funding and investment. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) may be utilized to bridge the funding gap; however, they are rarely used as a financing option, so this study assesses factors influencing their adoption for water-infrastructure projects. The findings show that a cumbersome regulatory environment, political influence, PPPs' complexity, and the lack of knowledge and skills influence adoption of them by municipalities.