The recent regrettable loss of life in Mothutlung, in Madibeng Municipality in the North West has put firmly on the public agenda the challenges of water delivery in the country.
This incident has also brought to the fore as the country. Government conveys its heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones as a result of this incident.
This incident has also brought to the fore as the country celebrates 20 years of Freedom, public scrutiny of how far we have gone in water delivery in the past 20 years.
The reaction from government was swift, inspired by its commitment to improve service delivery and the words of the country’s founding President Nelson Mandela.
More than 10 years ago, South Africa hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development which was later regarded as a negotiation of hope among the nations of the world to save the planet.
Unfolding under the theme, “People, Planet and Prosperity”, many will recall the moving anecdote by the patron of the summit, Nelson Mandela, about his experiences growing up in the former Transkei.
“Whenever I return, as I often do, to the rural village and area of my childhood and youth, the poverty of the people and the devastation of the natural environment strike me painfully. And in that impoverishment of the natural environment, it is the absence of access to clean water that strikes most starkly,” he said.
On this memorable occasion, the inspirational Madiba declared himself a “water person”.
South Africa is a water-scarce country which places a burden on all of us, including those at the helm of water management, to plan creatively for guaranteed water security and to work tirelessly for its conservation.
The words of Nelson Mandela resonate with this stark reality and we are grateful that during his leadership and as a pioneer of fundamental human rights, especially in the first five years of our democracy, the government managed to put water at the centre stage of the socioeconomic discourse.
We have since made great strides as a country in the provision of basic water services. The 2012 Development Indicators highlight our achievements in this regard, almost 95 per cent of South African households have access to water infrastructure, up from 60 per cent in 1994.
Our advances have allowed us to meet our Millennium Development Goal - to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water – four years ahead of the 2015 target. As a country we have however set ourselves a target of 100 per cent access by 2030.
During this time we have also addressed the backlog in sanitation, according to the 2012 Development Indicators the number of households in 2011/12 with access to sanitation stood at 83.4 per cent, up from 51 per cent of households in 1994.
The people of Mothutlung in the North West share this difficult experience arising from the apartheid spatial planning which systematically excluded such rural areas from access to basic services like water. Coupled with the fact that the area itself is naturally water stressed, the need for concerted infrastructure expansion and investment has never been greater. Massive population growth and the mushrooming of informal settlements compound the problem of water provision and other basic services in these areas.
Madibeng is a huge area of about four thousand square kilometres and according the 2011 Census, it has a population of just below five hundred thousand people from one hundred and sixty thousand households. This makes it the second most populous municipality in the North West after Rustenburg and the ninth most populous municipality in the country.
From figures published by the National Treasury, 58 per cent of the households in the area are poor and based on the Equitable Share calculations it is assumed that the number of poor households in the Madibeng area are increasing by 5.34 per cent a year. Studies conducted by the Department of Water Affairs indicate that an investment of more than R20 million is need to address current water shortages in the area.
It is in this context that Minister of Water Affairs Edna Molewa announced a further injection of R300 million for the expansion of the Madibeng water treatment plant. This will increase the capacity of the treatment plant to provide more water even to the previously stressed and far flung areas of the region. Furthermore, the upgrade of the Brits treatment works will cost about R300 million to increase the capacity by an additional 20 mega litres a day.
A further investment will be made to broaden infrastructure in areas which were not previously served. Adding more areas to the grid would require an additional investment estimated of about R500 million.
The pledge by Minister Molewa and the North West Premier Thandi Modise of R1.8 billion to ease the water shortages will include bulk infrastructure upgrades and borehole refurbishments across the province.
These investments are significant for our economy and local authorities have been urged to take extra care to ensure their durability and efficacy. The communities who rely on this infrastructure for services also have a responsibility to safeguard and protect it from vandalism.
Water delivery comes at a cost and the country cannot afford to treat it like any other commodity. Opening a tap at home is seldom seen as a luxury until the tap runs dry and suddenly cooking, washing and sanitation becomes a challenge. Only then, the fortunate are reminded of the value of having water in their households. We all have a part to play in conserving water and reducing demand for the good of the country.
While the action by government has demonstrated our capacity to act and respond to people’s needs, using water also come with responsibility from our citizens. We call on all South Africans to play their part in ensuring that water is preserved for the benefit of all our citizens.
Phumla Williams is Acting CEO of the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS)
