Research indicates that one of the root causes of poor service delivery by the public service sector in South Africa is poor talent management strategies that fail to retain key talent. The current study was primarily aimed at exploring best practices for talent management in the South African statutory water board sector. A qualitative research design using a total of 13 structured e-mail interviews as data collection method was implemented. This took place within the context of a multiple case study involving talent management officials at three statutory water boards. A number of generic best practices for talent management in the South African statutory water board sector were identified and proposed. The degree to which the findings and proposed best practices of this study can be transferred to the sector as a whole will depend on the distinctive corporate character, needs and operational environment of each statutory water boa