A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of a degree of Masters of Arts in Community Work in the Department of Social Work, at the University of Zululand, 2010. / South Africa has one of the most progressive legislative and policy frameworks for water and sanitation services in the world, which includes a constitutional right to water and a national free basic water policy. However, when it comes to the local government level (municipalities) who arestipulated with the duty to provide water and sanitation services not only in informal settlements, the reality is quite different.In many municipalities, water and sanitation services programs are still run according to long established routine and customs which have never been examined for their effectiveness or appropriateness to current conditions of the areas (informal settlements) where services are driven to. Nevertheless, the intention of this study was to evaluate municipality programs in addressing water and sanitation services in informal settlements. To produce data for thestudy, the questionnaires, interviews schedule and document review or analysiswas utilised.A sample of 10respondents was drawn from three Umhlathuze municipalities, namely: Richards Bay, Empangeni and Esikhawini municipalities. The findings from the study indicated that Umhlathuze municipality programs in addressing water and sanitation services in informal settlements is a failure, the municipality have a sour working relationship with the community, the criteria used to choose the strategy to the provision of the services does notencourage community participation, and finally, the municipalities are still using a bit of the past supply driven approach and the new approach; demand responsive approach simultaneously. The set objectives for the study were achieved, andmost importantly, it is recommended that fullcommunity participation at different levels and stages of water supply and sanitation service planning and implementation should be encouraged.