M Nkoana-Mashabane: Sanitation Symposium

2 March 2007

Programme Director
Executive Mayors
Mayors and speakers from municipalities
Councillors
Officials from our government and municipalities
Non Governmental Organisations
Members from the Business Community
Friends from the media
Comrades and friends
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
People of Limpopo

We have just recently witnessed the passing away our beloved Mama Adelaide
Tambo, one of our own, a struggle icon of the 1956 Women's March to the Union
Building, a mother and a freedom fighter. We in Limpopo once more, convey our
condolences to the Tambo family and say may her soul rest in peace.

The Department of Local Government and Housing derives its mandate from the
constitution and legislations of the Republic. We are mandated by the
electorate to deliver basic services to our people and bring dignity to our
people after years of segregation and oppression by successive apartheid
regimes. The process of undoing the legacy of the past is progressing well
although it will take time to arrive at our strategic objective. Section 24 of
the constitution provides that 'every citizen has a right to an environment
that is not harmful to their health or well being and citizens have the right
to environment protected for the benefit of the present and future generations
through legislative and other measures'. Section 10 provides that 'everyone has
inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and
restored'.

President Thabo Mbeki on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the
formation of the ANC dedicated the year 2007 to the intensification the
struggle against poverty and underdevelopment. The President further stated
that "the challenge we are faced with and the tasks that remains is in terms of
implementing the popular mandate we received in 2004 to build a peoples
contract and fight poverty." The President has commanded his platoon to the
battle front to advance and consolidate our strategic objectives against the
legacy of oppression, poverty and underdevelopment. It is for this reason that
we need to ask ourselves what contribution do we make in advancing this call to
the battle front.

We have consistently noted and resolved that the central challenge facing
our government in the second decade of freedom is to defeat poverty and
substantially reduce the levels of unemployment to halve by 2014. It is for
this reason that the eradication of poverty has been at the centre of our
policies and program implementation. In an endeavour of undoing the devastating
legacy of apartheid and colonial oppression, dispossession and deliberate
underdevelopment, the democratic government has adopted several key policies to
advance and consolidate the economic growth path with a view to steadily push
back the frontiers of poverty.

It is my firm view that another key programme that is aimed at reducing
poverty while simultaneously providing work experience and skills is the
Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). In our department, the number of
programmes within the EPWP are constantly expanding, reaching more people in
terms of work opportunities, services provided and infrastructure built.

Programme Director, the national government set a goal to achieve the
delivery of acceptable sanitation services to all its citizens by 2010. The set
targets are:
* eradication of household sanitation backlogs by 2010
* eradicated school sanitation 2005
* replace bucket system by 2007
* eradication of clinic sanitation by 2007.

We are therefore entrusted with a task of achieving these targets in order
to advance the ideals of the Reconstruction and Development Programme and the
Millennium Development Goals. Water is life and Sanitation is dignity. The
Province has a range of sanitation technologies being implemented within
communities. These include water borne sanitation, pit toilets, mobile units
and other technologies. The sanitation infrastructure is implemented by amongst
others municipalities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Housing
Programme. We will continue monitoring progress until we are convinced that we
have finally achieved our goals.

As we monitor progress on these fronts , we must be mindful of the
commitment we made in our local government election manifesto were we committed
ourselves to ensuring that all communities must have access to clean water and
decent sanitation by 2010 and all houses must have electricity by 2012. It is
worthwhile to note that the President of the Republic in his state of the
nation address acknowledged that we have achieved the Millennium Development
Goals in respect of basic water supply from 59% to 83% in 2006.

Our government alone cannot resolve challenges of inequality, sanitation and
above all poverty. We seek a concerted action on our development approach
involving the whole of our society. Our programmes must be people centred and
people driven. Municipalities must consult communities in any developmental
programmes undertaken by the Municipality with a view of ownership by the
communities.

Programme Director, We have been very consistent in terms of our programme
implementation that the masses of our people form a nucleus component of the
delivery of services. We need to consult them in any developmental agenda we
pursue so that they own the projects as their own. Sanitation projects should
be demand driven by the community and therefore allow them to have a meaningful
participation in the water services development plans. Community understanding
of various sanitation systems is also essential in ensuring that the community
takes appropriate decisions. Appropriate sanitation is as much about people and
their dignity as it is about public health.

It is against this backdrop that our communities must be placed at the
centre of our reconstruction and development programme to enable them to be the
architects of their own destiny. We need to concretely and properly co0ordinate
issues of sanitation in a manner that will advance our strategic objectives in
line with the Millennium Development Goals and our national targets of
acceptable delivery of sanitation service and eradication of household
sanitation backlog by 2010. We need to strengthen the capacity of the
Provincial Task Team in addressing the backlog that we are faced with. The Task
Team is comprised of the following stakeholders, Treasury, departments of water
affairs and forestry, health and social development, education, public works,
local government and housing and SALGA.

We are compounded by challenges and realities that most municipalities do
very little to mobilise investment in sanitation services and they do not have
reliable demographic information data in order to plan for service provision in
their area of jurisdiction. Sanitation is commonly low or if not at all
non-existence on the municipal and community priorities for improved
services.

These problems are more severe in rural areas were there is a desperate need
for the provision of water. Sanitation projects do not appear in the same
magnitude with other basic services hence not included in the IDPs. The type of
water supply system influences the type of sanitation system to implement. The
most common system used in rural areas is on site system that does not require
an extensive reticulation network.

Furthermore our challenges are those of inadequate institutional mechanisms
and resources to address sanitation backlogs especially in the rural areas.
Some sanitation treatment works exceeded their life span and continuously
overflow into rivers. It is important that this sanitation symposium comes up
with concrete action plans on how these backlogs are to be addressed.
Furthermore it is crucial that sanitation be placed on par with other basic
services needs in the IDPs of municipalities. We call on all our people, donor
communities and the private sector to join hands with government in pursuit of
eradication of backlogs in sanitation.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Limpopo Provincial
Government
2 March 2007
Source: Limpopo Provincial Government, (http://www.limpopo-dlgh.gov.za)