Forestry, at the launch of a partnership with Swimming South Africa, Victoria
Lake Club, Germiston Lake, Germiston, Johannesburg
3 November 2006
Programme Director,
President of Swimming South Africa,
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Swimming South Africa,
Representative from the mayor's office,
Distinguished guests,
Participants,
Ladies and gentlemen:
I am pleased to be here today to officially launch the partnership between
the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and Swimming South
Africa.
It is often said that "water is life", but we know water can also take life
away.
On 22 September this year 11 people were performing a traditional ritual in
the Orange River, downstream from the Gariep Dam. They were unaware that the
sirens going off meant that they should leave the river as the sluice gates
were about to be opened to release water nor did they understand the warning
signs. Once the gates were opened, the water levels rose and despite a rescue
attempt by the local police, eight of group were swept downstream and
drowned.
Statistics of Lifesaving South Africa and the South African Police Service
(SAPS) show that 64 percent of drownings in South Africa occurs in rivers and
dams with an estimated 94 percent of those who have drowned in such instances
being Black people.
Programme Director, South Africa's inland water resources include 22 major
rivers, 165 large dams and in excess of 4 000 medium and small dams on public
and private land with hundreds of small rivers. These water resources can be
used for a number of sporting and recreational purposes yet because of our past
where Black people were excluded from access to these facilities and were not
taught how to swim or participate in other water sports, today there is little
recreational use by Black people of our fresh water resources and engaging in
such activities is perceived to be an elitist pastime. In addition there is a
lack of safety awareness and how to responsibly enjoy the water resulting in
unfortunate mishaps.
Ladies and gentlemen, as most of you know our government is the trustee for
all water resources in the country. And as a semi-arid country, South Africa
requires sound water resource management strategies and initiatives to ensure
that the use of our water resources is undertaken in a sustainable and
equitable manner. The use of our water resources for recreational purposes is
therefore important to the government and is in line with our existing
legislation.
To ensure that all of our people are able to have access and to safely enjoy
our natural resources my Department, the DWAF, has developed a policy for
recreational water use. In co-operation with relevant stakeholders we aim
to:
* regulate, control and manage the manner, purpose and extent to which water
resources are used
* ensure that industry norms and standards are adhered to
* promote the safe use of water
* establish linkages with other structures in government to jointly manage the
responsibility for the sustainable management and use of water resources for
recreational purposes
* ensure stakeholder and role-player empowerment with regard to recreational
water use through sufficient communication and capacity building.
Until now my Department has not been actively involved in any recreational
water use safety programme with our focus being on other areas of dam safety
and security. With increased accidents and drownings in freshwater resources it
is imperative that we establish relationships with relevant organisations to
address this issue. When Swimming South Africa approached my Department to
jointly address safety in dams and rivers we supported this arrangement and
today we are celebrating the establishment of this partnership and the
Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) that has been signed.
This initiative called the Rural Splash Programme will ensure that our water
resources can be accessed and used and that the safety of our communities,
particularly the safety of our children, is addressed. It is through such
initiatives lives can be saved and our people will be given the opportunity to
fully benefit from our water resources.
The Rural Splash Programme is a partnership that also includes the
departments of Education and Sports and Recreation who will play a vital role
in the implementation of the programme. The programme has three main
elements:
* Firstly in creating awareness around the safety of the water source
My Department, as the lead agent, will have to provide technical information
on the state of dams or rivers. Such information would be on the quality and
state of the water, infrastructure and the possibility of dangerous animals in
or near the water source.
* Secondly in providing education to learners and educators
My Department will work with the Department of Education to lead this
process especially in providing Swimming South Africa access to schools.
* Thirdly in ensuring skills development by teaching communities to swim
This element is the crux of the programme. Sport and Recreation South Africa
(SRSA) is the lead agent and will need to make resources such as equipment and
instructors available in order for Swimming South Africa to provide the
necessary training.
The benefits of this partnership include:
(i) Local implementation of awareness and capacity building through an
established, dedicated and skilled organisation such as Swimming South
Africa.
(ii) Supporting transformation in swimming by creating opportunities for
previously disadvantaged people to become interested in swimming and possibly
become involved at a competitive level.
This partnership will result in my Department increasing its involvement
with water safety awareness issues and thereby complying with the requirements
of the National Water Act, in which we have a regulatory responsibility to make
water resource safety information available. This information will be made
available through a communication and media campaign in support of the Rural
Splash programme. My Department's own communication plan emphasises
strengthening the Department's engagement with the public including use of
water for recreational purposes.
Through this Rural Splash programme and our communication initiatives we
look forward to empowering rural communities to swim and be safe near water and
make water resources more accessible to them.
Over time we look forward to expanding this partnership to include other
departments such as Health, Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Safety and
Security.
In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to
making today's programme a success particularly Swimming South Africa and all
the other stakeholders and role-players. I would also like to thank the
officials of my Department who along with Swimming South Africa have driven the
programme with a lot of passion and hard work.
Initiatives such as this contribute to creating an 'age of hope' for the
people of South Africa.
"Be safe, learn to swim"!
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
3 November 2006
Source: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (http://www.dwaf.gov.za)
