Theme: “Together advancing people’s power in every in community”
Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Members of Parliament
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Today, is yet another day to stand before this house to present this budget that will be a great contributor in changing the lives of many South African who in the past were discriminated against. It is common knowledge that women in our rural areas still walk long distances fetching water in unprotected river sources to secure daily household water.In urban areas sanitation was provided through public toilets whilst water was fetched from communal taps.
The department is at work to ensure that we change this under the ANC lead government.
This budget Honourable Chairperson is therefore crafted to focus on the empowerment and upliftmentour people across all classes, that will include, working class, the youth and women in our country.
It is meant to respond to the most critical and basic needs of our people. It also meant to uplift their socio-economic status which will be an overall social transformation that this government is striving toachieve, and water and sanitation is but one of the biggest contributors if we could achieve universal access.
Honourable Members budget must be understood as tools for planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation in the provision of decent and equitable services to society.
It is our conviction as a department that water be secured, stored and distributed to all our communities. Each household will be provided with decent toilet facility and the bucket system will be totally eradicated in formal settlements.
At Provincial and local levels the department has eyes and ears provided by our Water Boards and regional offices. They provide daily service delivery and alarm the department for any interventions required. This is why the Minister in particular is on the ground and able to do rapid response to some of the challenges.
Water has become a BUZZ word in our communities and we are excited as that tells us that South Africans are now aware that water, is a basic right unlike in the past when they were made to believe that, clean and potable water is not meant for them.
As we promised last year that we will bring on board the vulnerable groups of our society to participate in the activities and opportunities within the department, we initiated an incubator programme targeting women so that they can understudy those who has been there as an introduction into the construction of water and sanitation facilities.
Honourable Chairperson the department is also targeting youth and learners as part of the transformation agendathat we are driving. This is driven through our internship programme, bi-national exchange programmes,municipal exchange and learner-ship programmes.
We draw our learners from all provinces in the country and some of them are currently out of the country with sharpening their skills in the water sector.
The youth in all our Provinces also alternate in their participation at the Stockholm Water Week, in Sweden, which tests the future engineering minds globally through water technology projects at high school level.
South Africa already won this competition 3 times. This can tell that the future of water and Sanitation is bright. Currently we are working very close with municipalities in upgrading and building water treatment plants and waste water works. Through Operation Hydratedriven by private sector companies and ordinary business people, to date we have supplied over three million litres of drinking water to various communities in the country.
This is proof that our people understand the natural challenges that we are currently facing, caused by drought. Business working with the department has also
connected five schools from different provinces with the latest technology.
Name of school prize category province
- Mmulakgoro Primary School
- Media Classroom Poetry Free State
- Zibungu Junior Secondary School
- Media Classroom Praise Poetry Eastern Cape
- Reilmoletswe Primary School
- Media Classroom Drama Gauteng
- Izwilesizwe Primary School Media Classroom Music KwaZulu Natal
- Amstelhof Primary School Media Classroom Poster Western Cape
In taking water to the people, the department is setting up Water and Sanitation Community Forums. Seventyseven of these have been set up in the twenty one distressed municipalities. In addition to the Forums we have established a Water and Sanitation Hotline.
The Toll Free Number is 0800 200 200 and the SMS Number is 45174. The public can now access information and register water and sanitation service challenges. These forums will assist in report some crimes that we experience at our facilities and report on key service delivery issues on time.
The War on Leaks Programme aimed at eradicating water leaks whilst creating jobs for the youth will in this financial year take in additional 7000 trainees into the system. The 3000 trainees who were part of the 2015 intake will be placed in local training institutions. The recent visit to Mpumalanga proved the programme to be successful. We intend to roll the programme out to all provinces.
The department in its quest to deliver water and sanitation to our people, considered the importance of forging relations with strategic global partners as they are critical to advance not only South Africa's own development needs but also to alleviate domestic challenges encountered by our region.
As I am speaking today two BIG International conferences are happening in our boarders because the world see us as a country that is on the go and can provide best practices on water in some of the areas we excel in, and we hope to enhance and broaden our scope on water mix and maximise the use of ground water through these partnerships.
In mitigating the shortage of water we have launched campaigns such as Drop a Block Product which is based on the principle of dispensing just enough water to enable the flushing of the toilets instead of using nine litres of water to flush. This product has resulted in annual potable water saving of more than 5000 litres per household. The pilot of this technique has further assisted 2000 households in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal.
In addressing the challenge of burdening communities who still travel long distances to fetch water from the dams, rivers and central water taps, the Department has introduced Water on Wheels Programme where we invested in wheelbarrows fitted with water containers and hippo water rollers. These will be distributed in partnership with the municipalities in all provinces.
On the other hand, the department has reprioritised more than half a billion rand to provide water, protect natural springs and refurbish boreholes in response to the drought.
Currently the department is piloting an Integrated Waste Water Treatment and Reuse Package Plant Technology in the Sundays River Valley (Sarah Baartman) and InxubaYethemba (Chris Hani) Municipalities. This new Integrated Waste Water Treatment and Reuse Package Technological System has an instant use capability which enables it to directly discharge water that helps to replenish the natural water resource.
We are continuing with the Water Saving Tips. This is a campaign, wherewe teach people to fix leaking taps, reuse water for flushing toilets and gardening, collect water from rain, plant indigenous plants and do not leave taps running when brushing teeth.
Through the Inter-Ministerial-Committee on Water Scarcity, government has been able to provide drought relief funds on water-stressed areas implement drought measures, avail water through water tankering and drilling of boreholes, and to raise awareness about water conservation.
Presently, the department is collating consolidated data on the water and sanitation services backlogs in the country. In this financial year all District Municipalities in the country will be engaged to collect this data and avail budgeted plans for infrastructure development. This data collection will be done through interactions with District Municipalities and Provinces. This will be used in the development of the Water and Sanitation Plans.
The water and sanitationconferences and indabas willbe platforms to continuously share the vision of the department and mobilise districts to work together with local municipalities and other stakeholders in their jurisdiction.
Through 2020 Vision for Water and Sanitation Programme the department will continue to educate schools about water conservation, sanitation and promotion of water sector careers. Provinces will be required to demonstrate their footprint of this project in each local municipality.
The Adopt a River Project aimed at addressing pollution in the rivers whilst empowering women through job creation and skills development and we are continuing to resource the programme to sustain it.
In 2016, new technologies will be introduced and will be deployed inthe 27 distressed municipalities. Through these new technologies, the department must ensure that youth and women are absorbed into the mainstream of the economic activities and trained to operate and maintain these technologies.
The economy will be developed by creating more jobs through infrastructure projects that the department will unfold in areas such as:
- Construction and rehabilitation pipelines
- Raising of old dams
- Upgrading of old and construction of new waste water treatment works
- Upgrading of existing and construction of bulk water supply
- Expansion of old and construction of new water works
- Deployment of new technologies in the fields of waste water treatment and water treatment works
Honourable Chairperson and Members, we requires this budget to achieve our goals and hence it is important to support this budget Vote 36.
In conclusion, as part of ongoing partnership with civil society, the department would like to thank all organisations who collaborated with in the various programmes. Secondly let me heartily thank the Minister, officials in the department, Water Boards, all our stakeholders and Municipalities for their cooperation at all times.
Lastly all friends of water, and our international partners for continuous support and partnerships.
Honourable Chairperson thank very much for giving us the opportunity to present this our 2016/17 budget which is key for service delivery. Allow me to thank the Members of this House for supporting our in work in their respective provinces.
I thank you.
