Umgeni Water no longer exists under that name. In 2023 the Minister of Water and Sanitation renamed it uMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW) under the Water Services Act, dissolved Mhlathuze Water and moved its staff, assets and service area into the new water board. UUW now supplies bulk water across KwaZulu-Natal from its head office in Pietermaritzburg, and it carries on the bursary scheme Umgeni Water used to run. On 1 October 2026 UUW had no bursary advert open and had published no date for a 2027 round.
Who uMngeni-uThukela Water funds
UUW’s training and education page lists bursaries for matriculants and for first- and second-year university students in three fields:
- Civil engineering
- Chemical engineering
- Finance
UUW states that its bursaries depend on funds being available, so the number of awards, and whether a round runs at all, can change from year to year. UUW lists the bursary programme as one of several skills development schemes, alongside learnerships, apprenticeships, graduate trainee and internship programmes, which it reports on to the Energy and Water SETA (EWSETA).
Newspapers first: how UUW advertises bursaries
Unlike many corporate funders, UUW does not run its bursary through an online portal. UUW says it advertises bursaries in local newspapers, so KwaZulu-Natal readers should watch the regional press as well as the news section of uMngeni-uThukela Water’s website, where UUW posts calls for its graduate and internship programmes.
UUW’s standing instructions ask applicants to send three things:
- an application letter;
- a CV; and
- your academic record.
Address them to the Skills Development Facilitator, uMngeni-uThukela Water, PO Box 9, Pietermaritzburg, 3200, or email mxolisi.ngcobo@umngeni-uthukela.co.za. The facilitator’s office number is 033 341 1346. When UUW publishes a specific advert, follow its instructions instead, because an advert may name other documents, a different email address or a closing date.
UUW’s graduate training route
Students who have already graduated can look at UUW’s graduate training programme instead. The 2026 to 2029 intake offered a 36-month programme for unemployed graduates under 35 living in KwaZulu-Natal, with first preference for permanent residents of the local municipalities where UUW operates; applications closed on 2 December 2025 and went to graduaterecruitment@uuw.co.za. Applicants who had already done an internship or graduate programme could not apply.
Other water sector bursaries
Because UUW funds few students and advertises irregularly, compare it with the Rand Water bursary and the Department of Water and Sanitation bursary, both of which recruit for the same scarce water skills.Our engineering bursaries list covers civil and chemical engineering funders outside the water sector.
Is the Umgeni Water bursary the same as the uMngeni-uThukela Water bursary?
Yes. Umgeni Water was renamed uMngeni-uThukela Water in 2023, and the bursary now runs under the new name. Older adverts and documents may still use umgeni.co.za addresses.
Does UUW still offer the Umgeni Water-Amanzi postgraduate bursary?
We found no current advert. The last call we could trace, reproduced by the University of Limpopo, offered master’s and doctoral funding for water technology research and closed on 9 June 2023.