Public private partnership for sustainable development in water and sanitation service delivery in rural south africa: Case study of O.R Tambo Municipal District

Water and Sanitation is a key sector where much effort is needed and the last century has seen changes in the governance of the water sector internationally with partnerships between the public and private sectors for environmentally sustainable development.

This study assesses water and sanitation in O.R. Tambo District and how Public Private Partnerships can improve the service delivery of the area communities for sustainable development.

Using a structured method of research, a total number of 140 structured questionnaires with inter related sections were used to obtain the primary data used in the study. The analysis of the data collected including the testing of the hypothesis were carried out using the SPSS program tools of Chi Square and Correlation analysis.

The major findings of the study shows that although there is no single approach of either completely Public or Private sector that can work in the service provision in the rural areas, the study recommends that a Public - Private Partnership with the involvement of community based Organizations and the Community involvement will and can facilitate the access to broader financing, assert skills and knowledge development and make possible the sustainable delivery of basic water and sanitation service delivery.