Minister Senzo Mchunu resolute in finding permanent water supply solutions for North West residents
Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu says he is setting up a steering committee to be co-chaired by himself and North West premier, Bushy Maape to oversee and ensure that water and sanitation services management is sustainable in the Province.
Minister Mchunu said, under the steering committee, a technical task team will be established, comprised by professional engineers from the Department and Water and Sanitation, the Magalies Water Board, as well as all district and local municipalities, to carry out technical work of assessing, planning and implementation of water and sanitation needs of the whole province.
The Minister expressed confidence that the formation of these structures will yield positive results in resolving water challenges affecting most communities in the various parts of the province.
Minister Mchunu, accompanied by Deputy Minister Dikeledi Magadzi, spent two days in Maquassi Hills and the Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipalities respectively, on a planned visit from 19-20 January 2023, to assess the state of water and sanitation in those parts of the province, and to receive an update on the water supply interventions that are being implemented through the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) granted by the Department.
The Minister and Deputy Minister were joined by the Premier Maape, MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA), Mr Nono Maloyi, the district and local municipalities leadership as well as Magalies Water Board.
“We are establishing a political steering committee chaired by myself and the Premier for the whole province. Under that steering committee, there will be a technical task team that will be convened by the DWS, and in it, there will be Magalies Water as well as all district and local municipalities whether affected for now or not by these challenges.
“The technical structure will be represented by technical individuals such as engineers because this is a purely technical committee that will be responsible for assessing every municipality, looking at available resources, analysing existing water schemes, those projects that are complete and incomplete, and all causes of stress on water in the province, and come up with solutions,” Minister Mchunu said.
Minister Mchunu added that “this task team should be able to provide us with a detailed plan of what needs to be done, costs and contributions by each municipality, at a local and district level, and the Board as well as the department in order to restore water in areas where there are challenges”.
In marathon meetings with various stakeholders in the water sector throughout the 2 days, Minister Mchunu emphasised the need for collective planning and implementation of action plans by all role-players to ensure synergy and sustainable provision of water and sanitation services in the province.
“One of the reasons that the work that is being carried out by government is not able to meet people’s needs and demands is the mentality of working in silos.
“The issues of water in the North West do exist and are serious, but they are not insurmountable. They are not such a big issue that they may make us put our hands on our heads and wonder how we are going to fix it, rather it needs is a collective approach. We therefore are going to fix this ourselves as national, provincial, and local government as well the role-players in this water sector,” Minister Mchunu elaborated.
The Technical Task Team is expected to report on the compressive plan, which will provide guidance on what need to be done in the whole province to ensure reliable water supply, to the Steering Committee during the first week of February 2023.
Last year in February, during his Ministerial working session in the province, Minister Mchunu visited Dinokana in Ramotshere Moiloa Municipality, which is one of his flagship projects. The Department is currently intervening in the Municipality through the Rural Water Supply Project to ensure that communities have access to water.
Enquiries:
Wisane Mavasa
Cell: 060 561 8935
E-mail: mavasaw@dws.gov.za
Kamogelo Mogotsi
Cell: 076 523 0085
