Portfolio Committee on water and sanitation visited Madibeng Local Municipality for follow-up oversight
The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation visited Madibeng Local Municipality on 20 – 22 September 2016 to carry out a follow-up on its oversight visit conducted on 23 September 2014.
The visit was also aimed at investigating the extent of water supply and sanitation interventions within local municipalities in the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, namely Rustenburg, Moses Kotane, Moretele and Kgetleng Rivier, and to meet with the Chamber of Mines as well as mining houses in the area to assist in partnership building.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Lulu Johnson, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation said that the Committee noted the few challenges that remained and required further action.
“We took a decision to visit this municipality to continue oversight with a view of tracking progress on various water and sanitation interventions such as the R63,7 million Waste Water Project, as well as refurbishment of water supply pumps at various areas”, he said.
During the visit, the committee highlighted that there is a need for all municipalities to develop integrated water master plans, supported by strategic water and sanitation stakeholders within the respective municipalities.
“Having integrated water master plans will help to address the issues of water shortages that you are facing as municipalities and will also assist in ensuring that there is no duplication of work which will lead to wasteful expenditure”, said Mr Johnson.
The Committee also highlighted the need to address ageing infrastructure which contributes to municipal failure to meet water demands. Mr Johnson said that ageing infrastructure does not only affect the provision of water, but also the quality of water.
The outdated infrastructures also lead to the municipalities losing a lot of water due to technical problems such as leaking pipes.
The committee also stressed that municipalities should engage their constituencies in a bid to inculcate a sense of ownership of government infrastructure by communities for the purpose of safekeeping and good use of all government infrastructures for sustainable service delivery.
Moreover, Mr Sputnik Ratau, spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation added that the other water challenge was illegal connections, which contributes to unaccounted water losses – water which could be supplied to areas which do not have water supply at all.
For more information contact:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
