Affairs and Forestry, during the pre-budget vote media briefing
15 May 2007
1. Introduction
Thank you for joining me this morning at this pre-budget vote press
briefing. This week I will be presenting my first budget speech as Minister of
Water Affairs and Forestry. Today's press briefing gives us an opportunity to
discuss some of the challenges in the water, sanitation and forestry sectors
and the work of the Department in these sectors. With a budget of R5,3 billion
and over 16 000 employees, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) is
by comparison a sizable Department and it has an important mandate.
2. Water resources and water services
Allow me to start out with a very brief overview of the water sector. At the
outset it is necessary to understand the water value chain so that it is clear
where the DWAF fits in and the role of other partners in the water sector such
as municipalities. The institutional structure in the water sector can at first
glance be quite complex.
Our water sources include rivers, streams, groundwater and rain and with
South Africa being a water stressed country (we receive less than half the
world average of rainfall) we have to protect our water resources and be aware
of our water consumption. Climate change, droughts and higher temperatures,
such as what we experienced this past summer, will have a negative impact on
water availability and is of concern to us. DWAF has the responsibility to
monitor these water sources and has powers under the National Water Act to
ensure that these water resources are not polluted. Our limited availability of
water means that water conservation and water demand management are very
important areas of work for DWAF. Falling under the broad banner of water
conservation and protecting our water resources is the Working for Water
programme, which is an Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) that uses
community labour to remove alien invasive species.
From these water sources we capture or contain the water into dams and from
there the water is taken to water treatment plants for cleaning. The water in
rivers and dams are what we call raw water and therefore cannot be safely
consumed by people. It is only once the water has been taken to water schemes
for treatment that it is fit for human consumption. These water schemes are
bulk water suppliers and operated by water boards, DWAF or sometimes
municipalities which are water services authorities. The treated water is then
sold to municipalities who then reticulate to households. Note that in rural
areas and in the agriculture sector the institutional arrangements are
different.
Most of the large dams fall under DWAF's responsibility (although they are
usually managed in collaboration with other departments and with local
government) and you will note in this year's budget that there is a significant
allocation towards dam construction and maintenance of infrastructure. The De
Hoop Dam is one of our priority projects over the next few years.
While municipalities are responsible for reticulation of water to
households, DWAF as the 'sector leader' works closely with municipalities to
provide support and ensure that there is roll out of access to water. DWAF is
also responsible for ensuring that municipalities maintain a high level of
drinking water quality. We have implemented a drinking water quality management
system which will be on show at the DWAF exhibition on Thursday, this system
sees municipalities supplying data on drinking water quality which enables us
to identify possible problems and work with the affected municipality to
resolve these problems. We have a number of engineers that have been seconded
to municipalities to provide them with support and we also have other capacity
building initiatives for municipalities.
The water value chain continues with removal of waste water by
municipalities and taken to treatment plants. The water is then treated and
released back into the rivers. DWAF works closely with municipalities to ensure
that their systems are effective and that raw sewage is not released into water
sources as this can have negative consequences on the environment and people's
health.
Most of you would be aware of the targets that have been set by government
in the water and sanitation area these include:
* bucket eradication in the formal established settlements by December
2007
* eradication of the water and sanitation backlog in clinics by 2007
* eradication of the backlog in schools by 2008/09
* eradication of water supply backlog by 2008
* eradication of general sanitation backlog 2010.
As we roll out water and sanitation services and get closer to meeting these
targets the lack of infrastructure is becoming a challenge. My department has
thus decided to establish a special programme for water services bulk
infrastructure, which includes wastewater treatments plants. This programme
will come into operation during this financial year and a grant amount of R1,4
billion has been allocated over the next three years.
Meeting the targets that I have just mentioned is a priority for the
government and over the past few weeks I have held sanitation summits in North
West and Eastern Cape to ensure that the first target we have set of bucket
eradication in the formal established settlements is achieved. Last year I held
a similar summit in the Free State. These three provinces are the most affected
by the bucket system. It is important to clearly state that while we look
forward to eradicating buckets in these formal established settlements by the
end of this year, we do not expect that they will be entirely eradicated
because we are faced with a continuous challenge of new informal settlements
emerging (sometimes overnight). This 'moving target' will remain until the
challenges of housing have been met.
The budget of R1,9 billion allocated in this financial year just on water
and sanitation services is in addition to the substantial resources made
available to municipalities through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG)
programme and will go a long way in ensuring that we meet our targets.
That in a very summarised way provides an overview of work of DWAF in the
water services and water resources areas. During our discussions we could look
at some of the detail or specific programmes of the Department such as the
different weeks we have Water, Sanitation, Arbour and Weedbuster Weeks our
youth development initiatives such as Baswa le Meetse, our Water Allocation
Reform programme which seeks to redress historical water allocations, our
programme to support resource poor farmers or the plans we have to establish a
national water resources infrastructure agency.
3. Forestry
The forestry sector is an important contributor to gross domestic product
(GDP) and employment (it employs close to 170 000 people and contributes more
than R16 billion annually to the South African economy). The impact of the
sector is felt particularly in rural areas and there is significant scope for
this sector to expand and thereby contribute towards uplifting those in the
second economy.
Over the past few years a great deal of work has been done in our forestry
sector to improve yields, to restructure institutions, improve community access
and to redefine government's role in the forestry sector. Our biggest
challenges in forestry are to achieve broad-based black economic empowerment
(BBBEE) in the sector and to expand our forest resources. The Forestry
Broad-Based BEE Charter, which is now ready to be launched, recognises the link
between transformation of the sector and growth of the sector. Through the
strategic environmental assessments that have been conducted we are confident
that at least 100 000 hectors of new commercial forests can be planted over the
next ten years.
In my budget speech I will look at the role of DWAF in providing a vision
for this sector and the need to address some of the constraints inhibiting the
growth of this sector, such as speeding up water licence applications for
commercial forests and resolving the outstanding land claims.
Our forestry programme also encompasses greening and planting of trees,
which we will be expanding.
The critical issue of fires are also a priority area for us, where we are
running the working on fire programme and encouraging the establishment of fire
protection associations.
4. Conclusion
To conclude, after my first 90 days in office I held a press conference in
Pretoria to outline some of the challenges I found in the Department. At that
press conference I made a number of commitments to the press, I would like to
reiterate these commitments.
Before my term of office is completed I am committing to:
1) Ensuring that women are firmly in the driving seat in forestry and water,
not only as recipients of water, but as empowered owners of their own
enterprises, as leaders and as managers. I also commit to the establishment of
an organisation for women in the water and sanitation sector to contribute to
the empowerment and capacity building of women in this sector.
2) Driving the process of restructuring of the Department through the
establishment of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency, the
catchment management agencies and the transfer of forests and water schemes. I
hope to leave behind a lean and mean and much smaller Department that is
clearly focused on its role as sector leader for forestry and water,
functioning as a regulator and supporter of other institutions in these
sectors.
3) Ensuring that the demeaning bucket toilets in the formal established
settlements are eradicated and that all schools and clinics have adequate water
and sanitation.
4) Ensuring that we have well developed programmes to find the skills that
we need in the water and forestry sectors, now and in the future. To this end
my Department will continue to drive the 2 025 capacity building programme for
the water sector, working together will all relevant players in the water
sector for a coherent, comprehensive and successful programme.
5) Ensuring that the forestry charter is finalised and implementation well
under way and that the transformation of this sector benefits the poor and the
marginalised in rural areas.
6) Ensuring that my Department receives a clean audit!
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
15 May 2007
