Honourable Speaker,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
His Majesty, the King (as represented in the House),
Honourable Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Chairpersons and Chief Executives of Water Entities,
Honourable guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
The budget we are presenting today seeks to redress the Apartheid legacy of inequality in relation to socio-economic and political conditions the majority of our people continue to face in this country. The 1913 Native Land Act and the Group Areas Act left the poor with no land rights a condition directly linked to the water rights.
Honourable Speaker the infrastructure development of the past targeted the rich and the affluent suburbs. It is through this budget that we will pave a way towards better life and bring dignity to the lives of all South Africans.
The past financial year was indeed a great year full of enthusiasm and experiences. It was a year in which both the political and the administrative leadership of the department took time to build mobile and viable structures to politically and administratively respond to the new mandate of the department.
The department travelled the length and breadth of the country creating a critical link with communities, water entities, business organisations, municipalities, traditional institutions, provinces, academic institutions and sector organisations to mobilise them into the water and sanitation family.
Through vigorous public participation activities in the past year, the department has raised the expected level of awareness regarding South Africa's water resources, water conservation, water supply, water reticulation and management.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has moved South Africa to recognise that the natural resources such as freshwater, arable land, clean air, plants and animals have a limited lifespan.
We look forward to our collaboration with organisations like the World Wildlife (WWF) who offer strong civil society support.
As government and a nation we have to protect these resources to ensure ongoing food security, human health and overall economic prosperity.
Although we have made progress in this regard we continue to face challenges such as:
- Vandalism and theft of the public infrastructure which hampers the ability of municipalities to provide quality and reliable service.
- Non-collection of revenue in some areas caused by non-availability of credible metering systems, dissatisfaction with the level of service delivery provided and the inability of consumers to pay especially in the rural and informal settlements.
- Inadequate supply of water reticulation infrastructure to rural communities was caused by the apartheid spatial planning which we seek to undo.
- Shortage of technical skills base to address the growing demand of water and sanitation provision and management in the poorer municipalities.
- Persistently low levels of understanding around issues of water pollution and environmentally friendly sanitation systems.
Civil Society Mobilisation
Honourable Speaker, recently the Department held a very successful Imbizo in the Nongama area in KwaZulu Natal and received an overwhelming support from the traditional leaders including His Majesty, the King. Today the King is represented by two Princes who are present in this House.
We would like to acknowledge the presence of Prince Musa Zulu and Prince Thulani Zulu.
During the launch of Adopt-A-River in the Vhembe District in Limpopo last week the Department was supported by the Xikundu Traditional Council.
The department will in the nine provinces continue to mobilise civil society.
In the main the department will work on water and sanitation development projects with traditional leaders, community service, non-governmental organisations and community based organisations to pave an acceptable path into the heart of the community.
Local task teams will be established coordinated by our regional offices to oversee the work the department is unfolding in these communities.
Budget Summary
Honourable Members as the Minister has already indicated, the overall budget structure and the planned activities in the five programmes, we have identified a number of priorities in order to address these challenges.
2020 Vision for Water and Sanitation Programme
The 2020 Vision for Water and Sanitation Programme is aimed at creating community awareness in water resource management. In 2014/2015 the Department planned to reach out to 5 500 schools. This number was exceeded by far and at the end the final record was 7 336 schools.
Through this campaign we encourage the participating schools with best education water and sanitation practices by awarding five media classrooms per year.
The following schools were awarded media classrooms in the last financial year:
- Qumbu Junior Secondary School in the Eastern Cape,
- Empumalanga Primary School in the Eastern Cape,
- Marota Primary School in Limpopo
- Solomondale Primary School in Limpopo and
- Midrand Primary School in Gauteng.
In addition to the above achievements, a joint water project initiated by the department and Wildlife Environment Society of South Africa Eco-Schools was awarded a United Nations award for "Water for Life Best Practice".
National Youth Water and Sanitation Summit
Honourable Speaker the department will be hosting the seventh Youth Water and Sanitation Summit from 29 June to 02 July 2015 in Johannesburg.
In the last financial year this Summit attracted 560 young people from all the nine provinces. This financial year the department is targeting 800 young people representing in-school youth, out-of-school youth and young water professionals.
The Youth Water and Sanitation Summit is about information sharing and knowledge acquisition in topical water and sanitation sector issues.
Youth Development
The department has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Public Works for training and development of youth in scarce skills. The department is in the process to engage with some municipalities and there is a continued effort to finalise implementation plans.
Empowerment of Women and People with Disabilities
In empowering women and people with disabilities the department has four programmes that are deliberately aimed at empowering women and people with disabilities within the water and sanitation sector:
- Women in Water and Sanitation Awards
- Adopt-A-River Programme
- Supply of Resources for Self Help Centres of People with Disabilities
- Accelerated Development Programme for People with Disabilities
- War on Leaks
The department has reconfigured workable concepts to the above programmes for their implementation in the new financial year.
Women, youth and disabled people and entrepreneurs in the water and sanitation sectors are given preferential consideration by encouraging them to register on the database of the department and this is monitored through quarterly Supply Chain Section reports on the participation of Previously Disadvantaged Individuals.
We also ensure that the big service providers partner with the youth and women to empower them.
The department is still rolling out water and sanitation services to the rural areas by using modern technologies because poor sanitation and water supply affect women and children more.
Water and Sanitation issues impact greatly on the health of women and children.
We are therefore targeting universal access to both water and sanitation to improve healthy living and restore the dignity of these targeted groups.
We all know that most of the families depend on small businesses like the backyard gardening. We are therefore looking at supporting these programmes, through provision of irrigation water to sustain these small businesses and allow those who use them for family food supply to be able to sustain their food gardens as part of food security programme and emancipate women even though they do not have formal jobs.
We are therefore looking at providing funding for these programmes as they will be life changing for our people.
Skills Development and Retention
The department continues to award bursaries to needy learners as part of the development programme of the Learning Academy.
To date, we are proud to say 231 Graduates Trainees have been offered permanent posts within the department after completing their studies. The services of the Cuban nationals are further utilised in the transfer of the most critical skills to our local engineers.
Over the next Medium Term Expenditure Framework cycle, the department will increase the intake of graduates into the Learning Academy by no less than 200 graduates with a combined budget expenditure of not less than R150 million.
The increase in the number of young people joining the programme will provide the department and the water sector with the availability of high level skills in the future, that will enable the country to reach its milestones on the matters relating to water security in the country.
Transformation
The department intends on taking a serious look at contributions of its programmes especially those targeting previously disadvantaged business people.
The department will ensure that the department plays its role in complying with the legislative framework that governs our socio-economic environment. As you will recall, the triple BEE Amended Act states that “All spheres of government, public entities and organs of state must report on their compliance with Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment in their Audited Annual Financial Statements and Annual Reports required under the Public Finance Management Act.”
I’m, therefore, happy to report that our department has an approved departmental triple BEE Policy which intends to align all our systems and procedures so that we would be ready for triple BEE audit in the next financial year.
In the last financial year the department launched the “Tswelopele Military Veterans Jobs Project” in Standerton, Mpumalanga Province.
During this launch, we managed to absorb 101 Military Veterans within our Rehabilitation of Water Resource Infrastructure as well as the cleaning of canals. We are now in the process of identifying other job opportunities in all our dams throughout the country to place as many Military Veterans as possible.
Conclusion
In conclusion I would like to thank all our people including all sectoral and traditional institutions.
I would also like to thank my Minister Ms Nomvula Mokonyane for the leadership guidance and support.
The Freedom Charter and the Constitution of our country opens with the words "we the people". This means our success as government depends upon the ability to facilitate public participation and the involvement of the people in the work we do.
Ndiyabulela!
Enquiries:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
