at North West Water Summit, Mmabatho Convention Centre, Mafikeng
19 January 2006
Programme Director
Premier Edna Molewa
MEC: Developmental Local Government and Housing, Mr Penye Vilakazi
Members of the Executive Council
Mayors and Councillors
Distinguished guests
Departmental officials
Magosi a rona
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with great pleasure that I stand here before you at the beginning of
yet another year that also promises to bring about events that will contribute
to changing lives of our communities for the better.
As we all know and agree, Water is life, without Water, there would be no
economy, no services of any kind, and indeed no life at all. Managing this
resource to meet the Developmental challenges of this Province to give a better
life for all as espoused in the Freedom Charter should be a priority.
Most of you are aware of the legislatory framework that guides the provision
and management of water. The White Paper, which was developed in 1995, laid a
basis for the Water Services Act of 1997 and later the National Water Act of
1998. The fundamental principle of both pieces legislations is that water
belongs to the people of South Africa. It is therefore the responsibility of my
Department to ensure that this resource is managed in a sustainable manner for
the social and economic benefit of all our people.
Whilst we are proud of the progress made with regard to the provision of
basic water and to some extent, sanitation services, we still have millions of
people in this Province without access to such services. In addition to
challenges of provision of this service, we have to ensure that we address past
inequities in allocation of water resources.
I must start by reminding you all again that South Africa is a water scarce
country. Because we really try to manage water well, we sometimes forget that
we are on the edge of what is internationally defined as water scarcity in
terms of how little water we have available per person.
Because we are so short of water, we must ensure that we get as much benefit
from its use as possible. That means we have to be careful and efficient in the
way we use water and we need to be clever too â internationally they talk about
how to get âmore crop per dropâ. We must think about how to get âmore jobs per
dropâ and âmore products per dropâ. We also need to protect our water because
pollution leads to water shortage.
Ensuring conservation, sustainability and future access and effective
management of the water resources now and in the future imposes an obligation
on us to educate our people about these issues, especially our children. My
Departmentâs 2020 Vision for Water and Sanitation Education Programme is also
aimed at creating awareness among learners regarding the importance of
effective water resource management and conservation. To effectively achieve
this, a memorandum of co-operation has been signed between our department,
different government departments, municipalities, water boards and other key
partners in the province and to reinforce the need for water conservation and
management. This is aimed to foster collective responsibility and
accountability for the resource.
The National Water Resources Strategy provides the blueprint for the future
of my Department and for the protection, preservation, conservation,
development and effective management of our precious water resources.
In response to our Presidentâs call to improve the growth rate of our
economy, we need to look carefully at the role which water can play in
stimulating economic growth in this Province. Therefore, one of the major aims
of gathering here is therefore to consider how water can contribute to your
economic and social development programmes.
The three spatial development initiatives as reflected in your Provincial
Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) namely: the platinum corridor, the
Treasure corridor and the Western corridor have a great potential in giving
effect to eradication of poverty and improving the lives of all, but will also
put pressure on the available water resources as the province can be classified
as Water stressed.
My Department is also actively involved in the North West PGDS structures.
They provide support and inputs in the Provincial Growth and Development
Strategy in order for it to realise its main objective.
At the PGDS summit held in August 2004, the following growth and economic
development pillars were identified by yourselves,
* Growth and Investment pillar
* Agriculture and Rural Development pillar
* Mining and Energy
* Manufacturing
* Tourism
* Construction and Infrastructure
* SMME
* Training and Skills development
The Agriculture and Rural development as well as the Mining pillars are very
water intensive. As a department we will have to make sure that in our water re
allocation programme we attain equitable allocation of water to promote
resource poor farmers. The water allocation reform also aims to achieve
sustainable and equitable development, to support poverty eradication and
economic development and to help balance resource protection, and economic
growth
In line with the National Water Act Principle that seeks to ensure that water
resources are managed locally, my Department is in the process of establishing
various institutions that will carry out this function.
You are probably aware that we are in the process of establishing Catchment
Management Agencies (CMAs). These are responsible for the management of the
water resources in the province. Co-ordination through appropriate structures
will be key in giving effect to meaningful support to the economic growth of
the province. Catchment Management Agencies will manage Water Management Areas.
With respect to those catchments within the North West Province, the
establishment of the Crocodile (West) Marico CMA has been approved and a notice
to this effect has appeared in the Government Gazette. The appointment of the
Advisory Committee to assist me with the identification of stakeholders to
serve in the Governing Board of this CMA is also imminent.
We are anxious to ensure that the Irrigation Boards managing the Government
Water Schemes, which we are in the process of transforming to Water User
Associations, could contribute to your programme. And indeed, we believe that
the Water User Associations may be able to provide effective structures through
which partnerships between commercial and emerging farmers can be established,
as has happened elsewhere in the country. We know that successful and efficient
farming is a challenging business and we get all the help we can to ensure that
our new farmers are successful.
In 2004, I announced a policy on how my Department can assist resource poor
irrigation farmers through various subsidies. I hope that during this summit we
will discuss how this water can be used to make practical progress to achieve
your goals on agricultural development and land reform processes.
In this Province my Department has provided subsidies to more than 100
resource poor farmers on our irrigation schemes (Hartebeespoort Irrigation
Board and the Vaalharts WUA) have Subsidies where of approximately R2,5 million
was made available for the payment of operation and maintenance costs.
The North West Provincial Growth and Development Strategy outlines the
following elements, from a Water and Sanitation perspective:
* To promote equal and fair access to basic services
* Achieve sustainable resource usage and sustainable environmental
protection
* Achieve co-operative governance and promote partnerships
* Promote Small, Medium and Micro enterprise development
* Launch Spatial Development Initiatives
Furthermore, the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy states that, to
give effect to your developmental objectives, some of the targets to be reached
by 2014 include:
* To grow the economy at 6,6% per annum on average over 10 years
* Must promote employment creation of 45,400 per annum
* Must facilitate skills development of 7,665 per annum
* To deliver water to at least 34 686 households per annum
* Sanitation delivery to at least 73 549 households per annum
* The delivery of at least 17 657 housing units per annum
It is, therefore, important that National Government supports the Province
and Local Governments in your aspirations to reach your economic growth, job
creation and related targets.
I also need to highlight the successes that have been achieved by
government, nationally and North West in particular, especially with regards to
provision of services to our people and support to municipalities.
At a national level we can proudly say that significant progress has already
been achieved during the first 10 years of our democracy. Nationally, my
Department has served 10,5 m people with water.
However, the poor face significant service delivery shortfalls despite the
noteworthy progress made to date. You have done very well since 1994 in
providing basic water supply to 1,2 million people previously living in
formerly unserved households, as well as providing basic sanitation to 68 000
households. The delivery of Sanitation especially to the rural communities is
not satisfactory. More concerted effort and resource commitments are needed to
accelerate rural sanitation delivery.
Of course, providing infrastructure is only the start of providing water
supply and sanitation. Good management of operations is critical if we are to
avoid not only dry taps, blocked toilets and polluted rivers, but more
specifically prevent typhoid and cholera.
With respect to the challenge of sanitation, you will know that, in
co-operation with the Department of Provincial and Local Government and the
National Treasury, we have made R1, 2 billion nationally available over the
next three years to eliminate the bucket system once and for all.
We are all aware of the challenges facing some municipalities in the
Province where they experience problems with the management of sewage treatment
works and water purification plants. It is the responsibility of each
municipality to ensure proper planning, budgeting and management of such
infrastructure to prevent service delivery breakdowns, pollution incidents and
worst of all, endanger the health of its communities.
I have said it before and will repeat here that the sanitation standards for
different settlements should be chosen carefully. Choice of technology should
be driven by availability of water and more importantly, the appropriateness of
the technology for a particular community. It is the responsibility of each
municipality to ensure that planning, budgeting and management of any
sanitation infrastructure is done properly and in a sustainable manner. Make
sure that existing water supply and sewage treatment infrastructure can
accommodate sanitation options provided.
One other key lesson in the water sector in the last five years is the power
of collaboration. An approach that incorporates a high level of co-operation,
co-ordination and collaboration has been adopted in this region through the
formation of the North West Water Sector Committee. This is a forum where
government departments, municipalities and other sector stakeholders interact
to plan and develop strategies to effectively manage water services and
resources.
My Department will continue to support project consolidate activities, a
strategy for our support has been developed and communicated to the project
consolidate team. There are currently 15 declared project consolidates
municipalities in the North West and I am aware that considerable progress has
been made. I would however encourage other municipalities that are not falling
under the current project consolidate list, to consider adopting the project
consolidate principles as this can only result in even better service
delivery.
In closing, it gives me great excitement and pleasure to launch the
departmentâs Toll Free Line. I challenge and encourage all of you as consumers
of water and members of various Water Services Institutions to utilise this
facility. Essentially, the service has two primary goals; viz. for
municipalities, it seeks to provide on demand support; and for citizens, it
seeks to provide an avenue for their concerns and contribute to the protection
of their rights. The number is 0800 200 200.
The concept of an accessible ONE STOP SHOP of support services was endorsed
over a year ago and after much hard work has come to fruition. Iâm therefore
happy to announce that the first stage of services will be available in the
form of this Toll Free Line.
Today, I implore you to openly and honestly interrogate the challenges,
which we face in the water and sanitation sectors in the certain knowledge that
the solutions to the challenges are within our grasp.
Let this water summit be used to ensure that we reach our common goals with
regard to the water sector.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
19 January 2006
