Programme Director
All Protocols observed
First I would like to begin by thanking the organisers of this unique event, the Durban International Boat & Lifestyle Show especially that the campaign is about reminding us of the significance of water to all living organisms, including human beings. Life as we all know it hinges on the availability of water and around 60% of human body constitutes water and it is not surprising that our own constitutions regards access to water as a constitutional right for citizens.
Water is also an invaluable commodity for industrial and commercial development. However, I would prefer to start by highlighting the importance of this resource to the sustenance of human life and other creators. This is more crucial in drawing parallels in the utilisation of water for general human or household consumption and industrial purposes.
Since the dawn of our democracy, the government has been attempting to get all households and communities linked to water supplies as we now have more than 90% of the population having access to running water compared to 62% back in 1996. Besides being a precious resource that we have to conserve, water contributes immensely to modern development not only with respect to the marine life and maritime trade that is part of our strategic focus as a coastal province. Industrial development in agriculture, manufacturing and other diverse sectors rely on water and when we look at the built up areas for human inhabitants and industrial sites, we often forget that the combination of different building materials that we use in the construction of different structures hinge on the provision of water.
Though water is the core of human existence and development, very few societies, probably with an exception of those settled in the desert or extreme arid conditions that prioritise water as a top resource for their survival. If one would be cornered with a question to enlist at least one highly important natural resource that a human being would be pleased to own, certainly it wouldn’t be water. The obsession would be with precious metals such as gold and diamond and this is because we have not been grown to appreciate water as one of the essential life sustaining natural gifts from God.
Like air that we breathe water is a fragile possession that requires our collective protection. Nations that have acknowledged the importance of water have developed strategies to provide scientific and even physical security around their waters hence it’s believed that any potential world war was likely to be triggered by nations having a conflict over water. Indeed there had been incidents in which nations quarreled around water, especially when coming to territorial borders relating to the marine business such as fishing and of course shipping routes. We know the stories of the ancient Nile which is the life-blood for Egypt and many other societies living around this world’s longest river. If upstream countries like in the Great Lakes and Sudan were to divert water from the Nile, we know what would be the reaction from the Egyptians. Many nations in the Middle East have been involved in tensed relations because of territorial disputes relating to access water resources.
Our own country places high value on water as we are a water scarce region that depends on the supplies from reservoirs like natural lakes and dams for both human consumption and industrial development. While around 71% earth’s surface is covered in water, millions of people around the world struggle to access water and this country often experiences water challenges in spite of its endowment with a wide range of riches from coal, platinum, diamonds to gold. There is an already expressed fear that water demand in the country could exceed supply unless drastic steps are put in place.
Changes in climate and growing industrial development are amongst factors threatening the future of our water resources. Five years ago there was a warning that the country could face dire water situations by 2013 and such threat hasn’t diminished as we continue to have escalating demand for water to feed to the growing economy and population amid that despite limited rainfall which is estimated to only 18 inches a year compared to the world’s average of 34 inches, our country is not blessed with huge rivers that you often find in our northern neighbours that provide massive water for various uses such as domestic consumption, industrial development, fisheries, agriculture and navigation.
Having promulgated 2030 vision National Development Plan as a blue print for socio-economic advancement in our country, we could ill afford taking water as a key element in the process of driving our economy and sustaining our communities towards the achievement of the plan’s objectives. Meanwhile we are reminded that demand for fresh water is growing exponentially the world over that by the very 2030 growing cities could face an adverse future with water quantities dwindling. This is once again is feared to have potential to instigate political conflicts amongst nations that would threaten development and global stability. We have to think seriously about this as we have to ensure that water doesn’t become a source of conflict but be positioned as a viable commodity for tangible development.
History illustrates that civilised societies were those that place high premium to water which was the catalyst for their industrial revolution and general human development. Geographical location in terms of one’s proximity to water sources such as rivers and oceans as we have seen with respect to the ancient Egypt to River Nile and Iraq to Euphrates and Tigris and as well as modern cities such as London to Thames and Berlin to Rhine – all having developed through constant provision of water for domestic and industrial advancement which included agrarian economies.
The challenge we have to reverse the potential water crisis in the country is to mount concerted public awareness campaign where we remind ourselves as citizens of our individual and collective responsibility that we have to conserve this critical resource. In addition to human water needs, we have an added responsibility of ensuring the protection of biosphere where animal protection becomes paramount as we know that the ecosystem promotes interdependence amongst various living organisms and nature in general.
However, while we appreciate the role of water in the primary use by human beings, especially for domestic purposes and the incumbent threats to water systems, it is critical that we acknowledge the economic opportunities associated with water, especial with respect to the maritime industry. Being a coastal province with two highly developed ports in Durban and Richards Bay that are geared for regional and global trade and of course an attractive coastal belt that is the darling of local and international tourists, KwaZulu-Natal regards water as a strategic resource for future development.
We have therefore taken a cue from the national policy directive with respect to the promotion of the maritime industry as we have already initiated the development of the KwaZulu-Natal Maritime Industry Strategy that identifies various sub-sectors that could be explored and promoted as instruments to accelerate growth whilst addressing the historical socio-economic disparities by mobilise interest amongst historical disenfranchised communities to consider careers and business options in this industry which has a huge global foot print.
The water campaign initiative is therefore a demonstration of the desire to reveal to all and sundry the array of career and business opportunities available in the maritime field. Having re-joined the global community after the watershed democratic elections in 1994, the country capitalised on its strategic location and economic stature as Africa’s leading economy to create more trade linkages with individual and regional countries. This saw an upsurge in the nation’s participation in the global market reflected in the increased imports and exports from and to various destinations leading to the demand for improved economic policies and trade logistics.
However, in spite that we have well developed ports and boasting about 3, 5 percent of the world sea trade volumes and an estimated 190 million tons of cargo that passes through our ports, conversely South Africa owns not a single shipping company of considerable impact in the maritime industry. This implies our involvement in the sea business has concentrated in the main on the periphery of this sector that include freight chandelling, stevedoring, maritime tallying, crew services, bunker supplies, warehousing container handling and other allied sub-sectors that service the predominantly foreign owned vessels. Meanwhile almost about 52% of the total maritime market share is controlled by only ten big shipping companies registered in the developed economies.
It’s essential that we address this status-qua by utilising our cooperation with many nations that have substantial maritime sector, especially the advent of South Africa’s membership of BRICS offered just that opportunity as we can learn from these nations as to how they developed their own maritime business to ensure it empowered local people.
One of the critical challenges besides the inherent limited active involvement by black communities in the maritime sector is the shortage of people with requisite skills to elevate this industry in the country’s economy. This campaign which has become an annual phenomenon we believe would have huge impact on the mobilisation of interest amongst our young people to consider careers and business options in this field of our economy. With boat or ship building being mentioned in the country’s Industrial Policy Action Plan 2 as one of the target sub-sectors that should be promoted to create more business and job opportunities, we are pleased that KwaZulu-Natal is responding positively to that national call.
However, for this to succeed and become an attractive trade amongst our young people in particular we have to inject more resources to deal with scarce skills training in this sector. What is more impressive is that this water campaign is multi-faceted in that it promotes general public awareness about diverse activities in the boating lifestyle. This includes exposure to and appreciation of other marine related career and entrepreneurial interest such as the navy, commercial diving, sailing, freight, cargo handling and marine life environmental specialists.
We are grateful to the commitment that has been made by some of the academic institutions that have started to create avenues for maritime related skills training programmes which will significantly contribute towards the broadening of the industry’s skill base that would have an influence to attracting potential investment to the province.
Currently the province and Durban in particular is bracing itself for massive demand for various skills that would be required during the construction of the dig-up port in the old Durban International Airport. The multi-billion rand project will certainly service as a motivation for the province to invest in skills development for this industry to accommodate growth in the country’s sea born trade profile. The youngsters that have been participating in this year’s campaign, we believe they have been inspired positively towards pursuing careers in this sector which is currently experiencing acute shortages with respect to qualified and experienced personnel.
These should be drilled to become the pioneers of what should be an extensively transformed industry in the country’s economy in the near future where the demographics of our population will be equitably reflected. The state investment in the creation of the new port facility should be supported with the preparation of the new cadre of maritime enthusiasts that are prepared to seize opportunities either as career functionaries or entrepreneur capable to curving their space in the global market whilst flying the country’s flag very high amongst other nations.
Our effort to transform the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board into a centre of excellence with respect to the development of a crop of highly skilled marine operatives is a vivid commitment to the transformation of this industry. These should be able to compete with the best in the world within the areas of their career choices. But this initiative requires a Page 5 of 5 sustainable feeder that could be assured by introduction of the maritime as a subject in the schooling curriculum. Some high schools we are informed have started considering infusing these subject in their curriculum and certainly collaboration amongst all stakeholders, including education authorities is critical in the process of growing our economy through this sector.
The Durban International Boat & Lifestyle Show has become an ideal spring board to motivate for more young people choosing a career in the maritime field and the good thing is that practitioners from across the country participate in this initiative where they are able to share their experiences with our young people that have to be afforded the chance to select their future career from various fields including sea related work rather than the obvious traditional options. Some of those that participated in this year’s show certainly could make informed decisions about their future careers as they now have an idea of what seafaring, commercial diving, ship or boat building and yacht-sailing.
In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, what is of paramount importance is that there should be synergies in the skills development where accredited training centres work in a complementary fashion to avoid potential exploitation of aspirant trainees in this field fly by night institutions claiming to over quality training amid that they are nor registered to issue credible qualifications.
All role players have to speak with one voice and appreciate each others contribution to the promotion of this industry in our economy. The rolling out of the Provincial Maritime Industry Strategy we believe will be crucial in ensuring that we have coordinated efforts that would assist in ensuring that we empower our people with quality skills to partake in this lucrative but insular business.
As stated above water is life and we have to ensure that we use it with utmost care and that would therefore require the provision of adequately trained people that understand the basic principles of conducting water based business with an element of awareness that this is a delicate resource.
I thank you.
