Minister of Water and Sanitation Budget Speech & Responses by DA and IFP

Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane, gave her Budget Vote Speech on the 15 July 2014

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'Water is Life: Sanitation is Dignity'

Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee and Committee members
Honourable Members of Parliament
Cabinet colleagues
Chairpersons and CEs of Water Boards and other Water Sector Entities
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen.

Today we present ourselves before you with humility and honour as the honourable members of the fifth parliament. Let me therefore take this opportunity to congratulate you as democratically elected representatives of our people. We further congratulate the ANC which has once again been given a mandate to move South Africa forward through radical socio-economic transformation.

Honourable Members, today’s Budget Speech, is based on the 2014/15 Annual Performance Plan of then Department of Water Affairs and it will primarily focus on water related matters, since all matters related to sanitation will be transferred by the end of September 2014.

Chairperson, as guided by the National Development Plan (NDP), ANC manifesto, the second National Water Resource Strategy, we have resolved that we will apply a seamless integrated water approach. This will ensure that we provide a sustainable and holistic value chain of water supply from source to tap and from tap back to source.

As we strive to consolidate our successes and celebrate the good story in the water sector we shall, with immediate effect use this budget to deal with 10% of existing services that are dysfunctional and a further 26% where the provision of water is not reliable.

The continued disruption of water services and vandalism has prompted us to take issues of protection of our infrastructure quite seriously. We also intend to act radically against those in our establishment who collude with owners of water trucks by disrupting the supply so as to wrongfully amass public funds. We see this as an act of corruption that we have already started to deal with working together with local and provincial government as well as law enforcement agencies. Whilst water tankering is a good intervention in cases of emergencies, it cannot be a permanent solution.

For us to reduce high dependency on outsourcing our responsibilities, a change management process will unfold in due course so as to ensure that we have the skills required to perform.

Where the skills do not exist, we will be left with no option but to source the requisite skills with the support of the Department of Public Service and Administration.

Furthermore, we will together with other relevant departments ensure that we contribute to both job opportunities and inclusive growth by affording local communities with capacity for consideration in the allocation of contracts.

New ideas and innovations informed by research and development in partnership with our own Water Research Commission, will be welcomed so that we can also break new ground informed by science and technology.

Ownership of access to water continues to perpetuate inequality in our country. Working together with all South Africans we will, in this financial year, open up this protected space so as to ensure that water as a natural resource is available and shared by all. This includes those who live in villages, townships and beneficiaries of land reform nearer to the mines, and new industries will benefit.

The participation of our people in the water sector is key. We will extend our stakeholder relations by ensuring that water and sanitation forums are established in every metro and district representing communities, business, academia, women, youth and people with disabilities. In the first week of August 2014 we will convene a two day Summit where all stakeholders in the water family will come together and define our working relationship.

We will move away from a one size fits all approach where every district or local municipality has the powers and functions of a Water Services Authority yet its viability and capacity is questionable.

Together with South African Local Government Association, we will further engage on issues related to water tariffs, water loss and water preservation. We are also focusing on a number of single purpose dams to supply those communities which have previously been denied access to these dams and just to name a few, I refer to the Jozini Dam in KwaZulu-Natal, the Taung Dam in the North West and the Xonxa Dam in the Eastern Cape.

Honourable Members, these are amongst the game changers we will implement as we respond to the expectations of our people and the mandate given to this Government. We will act swiftly and decisively as we deal with nothing else but service to the nation. Honourable Members, the total budget for the department for the 2014/ 15 financial year is: R12,480 billion.

During this year, our spending focus will be on providing regional bulk infrastructure for water and wastewater treatment works which link water sources to local government infrastructure.

In addition, the department will also transfer R2.6 billion in 2014/15, R3.7 billion in 2015/16 and R4 billion in 2016/17 to the Water Trading Entity through the Water Infrastructure Management programmes.

Thus, my budget vote per programme will be as follows:

• R1. 026 billion is allocated to Administration.
• R597.8 million is allocated to Water Sector Management
• R2. 919 billion is allocated to Water Resources Infrastructure
• R121.5 million is allocated to Water Sector Regulation
• R7. 782 billion is allocated to the Regional Implementation Programme
• R32. 5 million is allocated to International Water Cooperation

We are also developing a Strategic Sourcing and localisation to focus on local content and in this regard, we are collaborating with three departments: Department of Trade and Industry, National Treasury and Department of Economic Development.

Since my appointment as the Minister together with the Deputy Minister, we have visited a few provinces to witness for ourselves the challenges on water and sanitation that communities are faced with. To date, we have had engagements with the Premiers in the provinces of the Western Cape, Free State and North West. The President has made a commitment on behalf of all of us to strengthen the capacity of our municipalities and thus improve the experience and service that our people get from this important sphere of government.

As such, a number of support interventions in specific targeted municipalities have been identified and will be implemented as a matter of extreme urgency.
We have noticed that each province or municipality has its own specific challenges; there were invariably a number of problems which could be classified as cross-cutting. In this regard, for example, the issue of ageing infrastructure and the maintenance thereof remains a huge challenge across the board; secondly, there is a lack of technical capacity to ensure that water is protected, conserved, managed and controlled sustainably and equitably as well as the capacity to perform operations and maintenance activities. We are developing very specific Provincial Action Plans together with the Premiers to deal with interventions.

Honourable Chairperson and Members,

I will highlight just a few of our current interventions:

While North West province requires special attention, the Municipalities of Madibeng, Ngaka Modiri Molema and Lekwe Teemane have been identified for early intervention. In Madibeng, the focus is on the villages of Oskraal, Shakung, Maboloka, Mothutlhung, Winterveldt where boreholes are being refurbished. In Ngaka Modiri Molema we are dealing with the Institutional arrangements following the decision to dis-establish Botshelo Water Board and transfer these functions to either Magalies Water or Sedibeng. We have thrown a lifeline to ensure that this matter is resolved by the end of September and they are also being supported financially. This Municipality has also been placed under Administration.

In Lekwa Teemane (Bloemhof), following the death of three babies due to water being contaminated by raw sewage, we took action to mobilise departmental resources and the Sedibeng Water Board to step in and stabilise the situation. We are currently reprioritising funding to cover the R41 million required to refurbish the water supply and waste water systems.

In the Free State province, following our engagement with the Premier, we have taken swift action to deal with those areas where we have had to introduce water restrictions to both domestic and agricultural water users in the Modder and Calledon River systems due to the low rainfall this past summer season. We have commenced with steps to mitigate the effects of the restrictions on the City of Mangaung and have commenced with discharges (diverting water) from the Lesotho Highland Water Scheme.

We have also initiated a study into the option of bringing water from the Gariep dam to improve the long term water security for Mangaung. We are preparing action plans for the Municipalities of Ngwathe, Masilonyana, Mantsopa, Mafube, Nala, Metsimaholo, Lejweleputswa and Moqhaka

In Mpumalanga, we are continuing with our intervention with the Provincial Government and Rand Water in Bushbuckridge where there have been service delivery protests almost weekly. The project to construct reticulation and bulk distribution pipelines is making good progress. We also intervened in Thembisile Hani Local Municipality together with the Tshwane Metro Council and Rand Water to increase bulk water supply to areas like Moloto, Kwa-Mhlanga, Tweefontein and Kwaggafontein. The permanent solution to the challenges of Thembisile Hani will be to supply water from Loskop Dam.

In Limpopo we are dealing with urgent interventions in the Greater Letaba Local Municipality in Tzaneen whose water levels are very low. In the OR Tambo District Municipality the focus is on the regional bulk water and waste water infrastructure in order to resuscitate Mthatha. Work is progressing well in Makana (Grahamstown) with the collaborative approach between the department, municipality, Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) and Amatola Water Board to reinstate ageing infrastructure.

The major focus in Gauteng is the Sedibeng Regional Sewer Scheme where good progress is being made on the R4.2 billion Regional Scheme. This is intended to deliver an effective solution that will eradicate pollution into the Vaal River and create a regional bulk sanitation infrastructure solution for the Southern Gauteng Region. Currently work is underway on the upgrading and extensions to the Sebokeng and Meyerton Waste Water Treatment works.

The reports I am getting from the above mentioned areas, suggest that if we have been walking, we need to run to be able to intervene with speed to provide clean drinking water and decent sanitation to affected communities.

In order to ensure the delivery of water and sanitation services to all South Africans, we are charged with the responsibility of integrating our work, through infrastructure development for the eradication of backlogs and sustained delivery of quality services to the people of South Africa.

Furthermore, to facilitate effective and timely investment, a comprehensive investment framework for the water and sanitation sector is being developed in terms of SIP 18, this framework will inform budgeting and integrated planning based on a life-cycle approach, which includes planning and construction costs, operation and maintenance, financing costs and the costs of sustainable water management. Capital investment in new water and sanitation infrastructure for the entire value chain including the refurbishment of existing infrastructure over the next ten years is projected to require an estimated R670 billion.

On the basis of current projected budget allocations about 45% of this is currently funded. These investments will have to be funded from on budget and off budget sources through partnership with the private sector.

Going forward, we will accentuate our seamless model in infrastructure development to manage the water resource “from source to tap and back to source”. Our infrastructure build programme will address the challenge of lack of access as well as the unequal distribution of water resources in some parts of South Africa.

From this water infrastructure perspective therefore, all our programmes: the Accelerated Community Infrastructure Programme, the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Programme, the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) and all the large augmentation schemes form part of our integrated programme intended to achieve our development objectives based on the need for equity and redistribution. These infrastructure projects are constructed through a mix of departmental construction and the use of Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority and our Water Boards.

I will just reflect on a few of our key projects: With the completion of the De Hoop Dam our focus is now to speed up the implementation of the Bulk Distribution System at an estimated cost of R7.6 billion. Construction of the first pipeline which connects Steelpoort from the De Hoop Dam is already well advanced and is expected to be completed by September. This pipeline will provide raw water to the Water treatment works at Steelpoort and to certain areas in Jane Furse. The further phases of the pipelines to Sekuruwe in the Waterberg and Pruissen in the Capricorn areas are due to commence this year with a target completion date of 2019.

With regard to the Mooi-uMngeni Transfer Scheme Phase-2, The Spring Grove Dam which augments the yield of the Mooi-uMngeni system by 60 million cubic meters, increasing the total yield to 394 million cubic meters per annum was completed in 2013. This benefits the economic hub of KwaZulu-Natal, including the municipalities of eThekwini, uMgungundlovu, Msunduzi, Ugu, Sisonke and iLembe. Work is now being undertaken on the pipeline connecting the dam to the Umgeni System.

Honourable Chairperson and Members

I am pleased to inform you that good progress is being made with the preparatory work of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase-2, this includes the advance infrastructure in preparation for the construction of the Polihali Dam, water delivery from the scheme is planned to commence by 2022. The cost to implement this project is estimated at R11.2 billion.

We continue to make good progress on the Mokolo and Crocodile River pipeline project, which will transfer water through a 46km pipeline and pump station from the Mokolo Dam to the Lephalale area mainly for use by Eskom for the new Medupi power station currently under construction. The negotiations for funding arrangements for the Phase 2 extension of the project are also progressing well and should be concluded within the next two months.

Tenders for the raising of the Hazelmere Dam are currently under adjudication. The raising of the wall will incorporate a Piano Key Weir (PKW) which is cutting edge technology in dam building. The additional water that will become available from this project is aimed at ensuring the supply of water as well as supporting the development of Human Settlements, the King Shaka Airport and the Dube Trade Port.

The raising of the Clanwilliam Dam will commence in October this year at an estimated cost of R2.5 billion. The raising of the dam will also include dam safety measures to ensure the stability of the embankment. The construction of the N7 re-alignment started in August last year.

The project is scheduled for completion in March 2017. Three quarters of the extra water that will be available from this project will be reserved to resource poor farmers. This is just one of a number of initiatives to ensure equity and redistribution.

As previously announced the department is proceeding with speed in the detailed planning of the Mzimvubu Water Project which entails the development of a multipurpose dam, the Ntabelanga Dam to supply new irrigation development and the Laleni Dam for hydropower generation, the project will also provide domestic and industrial water requirements in the Eastern Cape.

Our department also has long term plans for Greater Letaba. We have initiated the raising of the Tzaneen Dam and construction of new Nwamitwa Dam for the Groot Letaba River Water Development Project in Limpopo. The total estimated cost of the project is R4.2 billion with a projected completion date of 2019.

Significant progress has been made on the Acid Mine Drainage Project especially in the Western and Central basins. A tender will shortly be awarded for the Eastern Basin. President Zuma has also re-constituted the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Acid Mine Drainage. This Committee will in the very near future finalise the options for the long term plans for dealing with Acid Mine Drainage and also consider other pollution related matters.

The Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant is a vehicle through which we endeavour to connect especially previously disadvantaged communities to water sources to address their water supply needs. Through this programme, we implement local projects in which we build water schemes, refurbish water infrastructure, upgrade reticulation and distribution systems and waste water works. This programme continues to make a very significant impact on improving local water security.

Currently 82 schemes are under construction of which 10 will be completed during this year. I hasten to add that the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) which commenced in July 2013, will continue to address backlogs in specific water and sanitation projects, particularly within the 24 priority district municipalities identified by Cabinet.

Honourable Chairperson and Members

In presenting this Budget Vote to this House for approval, I would like to extend my thanks to the Deputy Minister, The Chair and Members of the Portfolio Committee, the Acting Director-General, Senior Management and staff of the department for their continued support towards the achievement of our goals. I also extend my thanks to the Entities and Water Sector Partners who continue to provide invaluable support.

As representatives of the people, your oversight and demand for accountability will spur us on to ensure that we do all that we have to do within the confines of the relevant legislation, assisting the achievements of the programmes of Government, guided accordingly by the New Growth Path as well as the National Development Plan.

Dankie
Ngiyabonga.

Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Pamela Tshwete, Budget Debate Vote No: 38

Honourable Speaker
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee
Honourable Members of Parliament
Honourable Guests in the Gallery

Let me take this opportunity to greet you all in the name of the Department of Water and Sanitation.

First and foremost, I would like to thank the African National Congress for giving me the opportunity to stand before you today as the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, and most importantly the people of South Africa for voting the African National Congress into power to serve the nation.

I would also like to thank the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform where I served as a Deputy Minister in my first stint in the Executive.

With this being my maiden Budget Vote speech as a Deputy Minister for the new Department I want to say that I look forward to working with Minister Nomvula Mokonyane in the water and sanitation family in bringing quality basic services to the people of South Africa.

The President has asked Minister Mokonyane and I to set up a new Department for Water and Sanitation as part of improving delivery of water and sanitation services to communities.

Honourable Chairperson, the Good Story we are telling as the Department of Water and Sanitation will focus on how we have moved forward by increasing the number of people with access to water and sanitation services, and how these interventionsare rewarding the country with job creation, skills for priority groups, and better access to potable water and sanitation.

Because of the democratic government leading South Africa today, more than 94 % of our people have access to water, 84% have access to sanitation systems, whilst 81 % of people have electricity, and 71% have domestic waste removed from their homes. And these numbers are growing.

Ngelixesha kusalawula uRhulumente we-ANC, sizakunciphisa abantu abalanda amanzi emifuleni nabantu abanyanzelwa ukusebenzisa amabucketi ekubonakala ukuba afanele thina bantu abamnyama abizwa ngokuba ngo Pota-Pota phaya eKhayelitsha apha kweliPhondo le Ntshona Koloni.

Honourable Chairperson, one of the good stories we have to tell is that the Department hosted its 6th annual Youth Water Summit. The purpose of the Youth Water Summit is to motivate youth to study maths, science, and technology so that we can build their interest in selecting engineering courses at tertiary institutions particularly among females. We want to develop more female engineers.

More than 600 delegates from all 9 provinces were hosted this year, including children, educators, sponsors, and partners.

Towards the end of the Youth Water Summit, an awards ceremony was held where bursaries, laptops, prize money, and a fully equipped media classroom worth R2 million was won by Qumbu Junior Secondary School in the Eastern Cape.

Since the inception of this programme, 46 media classrooms have been won to date and this has made a big difference in rural communities where the gap between the poor and rich is being bridged.

The winners of the South African Youth Water Prize from the Youth Water Summit will now represent the country during the World Water Week event in Stockholm, Sweden between 31stAugust and 5th of September 2014.

We are glad to mention the overall winners of this year`s Youth Water Prize as learners from Taxila Secondary School in Polokwane, Limpopo. I`d like us to congratulate Nthabiseng Motona, DipuoNthane and TebogoMamabolo. These students are our winners of the South African Youth Water Prize. Their innovation that won them the prize looks at purifying rain water to the level of drinkability.

Indeed we have a good story to tell.

Honourable Chairperson, projects that deal with women`s emancipation are very close to our heart and the upcoming Gender, Water and Development Conference will be instrumental in bringing to the fore women`s experiences in the water sector.

Honourable Chairperson, another good story to tell is that in response to the shortage of scarce skills, the Department has a Learning Academy that has awarded 648 bursaries since it was establishment in 2007.

The Learning Academy is a pivotal branch of the Department because it injects into society capacitated individuals who will go on towork in water sector related projects such as infrastructure and conservation.

In the financial year 2013/14, R12.7 million was transferred to the Learning Academy for student bursaries relating to science and engineering. I will urge the Department to continue employing its own graduates so that we can curb the trend of using consultants consistently.

Honourable Chairperson, the backlog in providing water and sanitation is not new but comes from the colonial and apartheid governments who deliberately created restrictive and racist laws like the Native Land Act of 1913 which caused dispossession and led to millions of people living in informal settlements with no access to basic services like clean water, sanitation, and electricity.

During the democratic dispensation we banished all racist water legislation and put in its place the National Water Act and Water Services Act, which treats water as a public resource that needs to be sustainably protected and used for social and economic development.

In order for the legislation to continually address the needs of our changing society, we have taken a decision to review the amalgamation of the National Water Act and Water Services Act into a single piece of legislation.
Government`s responsibility now is to accelerate the delivery of water and sanitation to communities in need such as those in deep rural areas and in informal settlements - amatyotyombe.

Our programmes for improved access to clean quality drinking water seek to implement the National Development Plan, which calls for greater investment in social and economic infrastructure.
The Department has been awarded a budget of over R12, 4 billionover the 2014/15 financial term, and this budget is set to grow over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

What makes this 20th year of democracy revolutionary is the amount of investment in infrastructure that the Government has prioritised.

Honourable Chairperson, our National Water Resource Strategy serves as a clear guide for adopting better water management strategies. The possibility of a water shortage in South Africa is a reality if we do not adhere to the principles in the National Water Resource Strategy.

The current trend is for people in the cities, urban and suburban areas to gain easy access to water.Though in many rural areas, there are taps for water, some people that are based in the deep rural areas still fetch water from the rivers.

The challenge with fetching water from rivers is that river water is not as clean as it used to be in my era. I grew up fetching water from the rivers, butover the years urbanisation, farming, and mining have dominated water usage, which has also resulted in polluted rivers.

Last year, up to R2-million was set aside for a further 12 months to fund the Adopt-a-River Programme, which created close to 600 job opportunities for the financial year 2012/13.

The River Health Programme wasimplemented in 110 rivers in 2012/13, and plans are underway to implement it to more rivers in the current financial year. By 2016/17, we will have implemented the Programme in 125 different rivers. This programme improves the protection of our natural water resources, enhancing the likelihood of clean quality water over a longer period of time.

For rural communities, pollution in rivers means that water in many rivers is no longer safe to drink. As such, measures must be taken to hold big businesses accountable and to make them more responsible.

In response, the Department is implementing the "polluter pays principle" whereby those responsible for producing pollution are made responsible for paying for the damage to our water resources.

Traditionally water rights are dominated by big establishments like farms and mines. Shortage of quality water affects poor households and emerging Black farmers who struggle to access water for their crops.

The Department runs a programme for providing rainwater to poor farmers. In 2013/14, 146 poor farmers received the support of the Department and 1080 rainwater harvesting tanks were installed thus far.

The effort to preserve water and produce quality water is done through various interventions in partnership with District Municipalities to ensure that communities have access to clean drinking water. And so, in closing, I can say with confidence that the electoral mandate of voters is being addressed through the formation of a new Water and Sanitation Department.

I wish to thank our Honourable Minister Nomvula Mokonyane for her guidance and the Honourable Chairperson and Members of the Portfolio Committee.

I also want to thank all our water boards and all water sector stakeholders for their commitment towards a better life for our communities, understanding that hard work has just begun.
Phambili ngomzabalazo wamanzi noqoqosho lelindle!

Thank you.

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Responses to Budget Speech

Nosimo Balindlela, Shadow Minister of Water and Sanitation (DA)
 

15 July 2014

Honourable Minister, Members of the fifth parliament, Fellow South Africans,

Shortly after her appointment, the honourable Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said that her tenure will be characterised by “ensuring rural communities have access to water, upgrading water infrastructure and working with residents to conserve the precious resource.”

This is a very laudable goal, Minister. However, it has not to date materialised for most of our people. According to a report by the South African Human Rights Commission, we have a very serious problem on our hand. This report found that:

•           The areas which lack water and sanitation mirror apartheid spatial geography.

•           National averages seem to indicate progress, but when the statistics are disaggregated in historically poor areas, they reflect limited access to these services. 

•           Lack of water and sanitation has a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups, including women, children and people with disabilities. 

•           Systemic failures in governance and budgeting, particularly in the implementation of and spending on projects, are clear. These failures point to the need for government to evaluate the current models of governance and funding.

Water is life.

It is therefore of crucial importance that South Africa reaches its target of 100% access to water. 

Honourable chairperson, it puzzles me to notice how the lack of conservation of water has been left unaddressed. 

There doesn’t seem to be plans to curb this wastage.  Most of the local municipalities have not addressed this issue.  Why is this, Honourable chairperson? 

South Africans cannot afford to lose a single drop of water.  Therefore it is appreciated that the Minister has announced the new catchment agencies. We will watch this space closely and monitor its implementation. 

Honourable Minister, to have the Umzimvuubu and other rivers used as catchment areas could be good story to tell.  But why such a long wait?  Where is the plan? 

It has taken the people of the Eastern Cape and many provinces more than 20 years to have these dams built. Good plans have always been there but the action needed to make it a reality is not forthcoming. 

Plants and animals cannot survive from lack of water as the whole country watched with sadness and dismay how the poor animals on Honourable chairperson of the NCOP Ms Thandi Modise’s farm died.  

This isn’t a good story to tell.  Dis skandelik!  

I hope the Chairperson will be held properly accountable for this.

Honourable members,

The review of the MDG’s indicators shows that South Africa has achieved only one MDG 7 target of halving by 2014, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.  

The data shows that the target is likely to be met by 2015.  

However, the backlog as well the inability to project manage dedicated sanitation programmes due to the lack of administrative data systems is hampering this. 

According to the National Development Plan, the department of water and sanitation should ensure that the implementation of national strategies for water conservation and demand management are properly resourced and enjoy appropriate policy prioritisation across the economy.

According to the National development plan it is important to implement stepped tariffs to promote the conservation of water and electricity, while ensuring continued access to free basic services. 

In the DA-run Western Cape, we are showing what is possible when this blueprint for South Africa is implemented. The DA difference is clear for all to see.

•           In the Western Cape 99.1% of households have access to piped water and 90.5% have access to flush toilets (the highest in the country). 

•           According to the 2012 Sanitation Report (published by the Department of Water Affairs) the Western Cape and Gauteng are the provinces with the highest percentage of communities with adequate sanitation services. 

Other provinces and municipalities have much to learn from our example, and we are happy to share this information with them.

If this indeed was the case, we would not have the disastrous situation we currently have in the North West.

Preliminary reports suggest that the bacteria E.coli is responsible for the unnecessary death of babies and the falling ill of 500 other people after they drank contaminated water in Bloemhof’s Boitumelong Township.

This bacterium lives in the intestines of humans and animals. 

A commission report was delivered to the North West Department of Health, but it is of great concern that the department has failed to release the findings to the public. 

This bureaucratic bungling must come to an end. 

In order to take the urgent action that is needed, we need to properly identify the problem. 

We cannot afford to lose more lives. 

Honourable members,

Water is vital for the operation of healthcare facilities. Without water, health care practitioners cannot wash and sterilize medical equipment. This has a significant effect on what doctors are able to do. 

In towns like Brandfort, infants with basic health problems are being turned away from local clinics because the water crisis continues. 

Schools in marginalized communities have had to suspend their feeding schemes to the detriment of poor learners. In addition students and educators cannot even use school toilets.

Zero tolerance approach needed to tackle water crisis Leon Basson, Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation (DA)

Good morning Chairperson, Honourable Minister, Members and Guests.

South Africa is one of the few countries in the world that enshrines the basic right to sufficient water in its Constitution, stating, "everyone has the right to access sufficient food and water". However, much remains to be done to fulfil that right.

South Africa is a water stressed country and is facing a number of water challenges. Despite being a water-scarce country, South Africa faces high levels of water wastage and inefficient use. In municipalities, non-revenue water is at more than 36% on average, and in many municipal supply schemes it is even worse with estimated losses of up to 90%.

The President, the Honourable Jacob Zuma, in his 2010 State of the Nation address, stressed that measures would have to be implemented to half water losses by 2014. 

Unfortunately this did not happen and a study by the Water Research Commission in 2012 on the status of non-revenue water found that only 132 usable data sets could be produced from 237 local and metropolitan municipalities in the country due to poor data and information management. 

The findings in this study are shocking. 

The study indicates that there has been a gradual increase in non-revenue water over the past 6 years with the figure now standing at 36, 8%. Of this 25,4% is considered to be lost through physical leakage (real losses).

In terms of loss in revenue, these losses account for more than R 7 billion per year. That’s enough money to build 14 state-of-the-art-hospitals.

As it stands, municipalities are legally required to report and control their water losses as per the Water Service Act (Act 108 of 1997). This is not being done in most municipalities and at the end of the day the consumer pays the price.

The need for serious intervention in municipalities is critical in order to assist in replacing old infrastructure to balance demands and supply of drinking water.

Most municipalities are no longer in a financial position to maintain the infrastructure due to corruption and maladministration. 

This is also confirmed in the Budget report of the department indicating that they had to support local government water sector over the medium term by:

Prioritising improvements in 42 water services authorities with blue drop risk ratings which are above 50 % and 55 water services authorities with risk ratings above 70%.

Completing 93 interventions to address lack of water supply, poor water quality and pollution incidents in municipalities.

This kind of intervention is no longer working. No programmes are put in place to ensure that intervention will not be necessary again. Handing back a treatment plant into the same hands that caused the problem in the first place is irresponsible and should be seen as a criminal offence.

As we all know a coin has 2 sides, and with water it’s the same - the delivery of clean drinking water and the treatment of wastewater, better known as sewer treatment plants.

55% of sewer treatment plants, especially smaller ones, do not meet effluent standards and some do not even measure effluent quality. Having the blue drop certification system for drinking water, the government has launched a green drop certification for municipal sewer treatment. As of May 2011, 7 out of 159 water supply authorities were certified with the green drop, (4%) and 32 out of 1,237 sewer treatment plants were certified with the green drop status (2.5%).

According to Bluewater Bio, an international firm specialising in wastewater treatment, there are 1,600 wastewater treatment plants in South Africa - not all of which were included in the Green Drop assessment - at least 60% are not meeting compliance requirements. 

There is a lack of funding for maintenance and the absence of ring-fencing of revenues for the purpose of maintaining assets, is one of the reasons that municipalities "run assets to failure”.

The overall progress on a national scale can be summarised as follows:

440 plants show progress by taking up lower risk positions, 323 plants increased risk ratios, and 68 plants maintained their status of 2011.  

The majority of 241 plants are in moderate risk, 225 plants in low risk, 212 plants in high risk and 153 plants in critical risk.

One example of these critical risk plants is the Rietfontein Plant under curatorship of the Madibeng Municipality, that was under section 139 1(b) Administration up until 18 May 2011, and is now again under section 154 Administration. 

Is there an improvement? 

NO! “It’s not a good story to tell”. The Rietfontein plant discharges water into the Swartspruit River running into the Hartbeespoort Dam. It was measured on 12 May 2014 with an E-Coli count of 820 000 particles /100ml. The maximum count level allowed is 1000/100ml for sewer plants.

Honourable Minister, what is even more alarming is the fact that the previous Minister of Water Affairs, Honourable Edna Molewa, stays in the estate where the sewer is dumped, with her knowledge. 

It’s the same Minister that declared the Brits Water Purification Plant a Crime Scene in January this year when 4 people of Mothutlung was killed for protesting for their Constitutional rights of clean water. 

All we ever here is: “We will investigate the matter!”

The reason for these problems like Mothutlung, Rietfontein and Bloemhof to name a few is that South Africa experiences a brain drain that also affects the availability of qualified engineers in water and sanitation utilities. The number of civil engineers in municipalities has declined from 20 per 100,000 people staying within Municipal Boundaries in 1994 to 2.8 in 2009. 

According to a finding by the Human Sciences Research Council in 2012 one of the reasons are the official policy of cadre deployment, whereby persons loyal to President Zuma are given jobs in different branches of government. This process places party loyalty ahead of competence and demoralises public service employees. Skilled staff is concentrated at the national and provincial levels, but there is a skills deficit at the municipal level.

South Africa can no longer afford the high levels of corruption and poor service delivery with yearly increases in water tariffs.

The National Government is the custodian of water resources in the country and Government acts through the Minister to fulfil the Constitutional mandate.

We will follow criminal procedure and use the full might of the law to prosecute those guilty of contaminating our water resources. The Minister too, will then be held to account. 

Daily news headlines read and I quote:

•           “ Bloemhof’s  killer water leaves grief in its wake” -City Press

•           “E.coli bacteria in Bloemhof tap water kills infants” -City Press

•           “ 21 Bloemhof babies admitted to hospital” -City Press

•           “Minstens 15 babas sterf al in Noordwes weens besoedelde water” -Rapport

Minister, is this the ANC’s “good story to tell”?

In conclusion, Minister, the buck stops with you to act and secure South Africa’s water resources.

I thank you. 

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Debate on Vote 38 - Water Affairs by Hon. AM Mpontshane (IFP)

Honourable Chairperson,

I am new in the portfolio of water and sanitation, however issues are not new to me, neither are the people.

I live amongst the poorest of the poor and I know their daily struggles. The pictures of women carrying buckets of water on their heads, travelling long distances, are all too vivid in my mind. As a consequence, I will not theorise about their daily challenges and struggles.

The question is: what does this budget have for these people?

I note that the total for the 2014/15 budget is over R12 billion, which increases to over R17 billion for 2016/17. These figures will only be meaningful to the people once they have been translated into tangible projects, which are aimed at changing people’s lives for the better. Otherwise the much acclaimed ‘better life for all’ will remain an empty slogan.

Let me cite two examples to show how the department has failed in many instances to meet its obligations.

Firstly, the Shemula scheme in Umkhanyakude district. This scheme has become dysfunctional. The people in the area have not received any water from it for over 5 years now. Can you imagine what would happen in an urban setting if people didn’t have water for 5 years in their households? They would make the area ungovernable – but I am not advocating anarchy.

Why does the department treat people in the rural areas with such disdain?

Whilst we note that the amount of R603 million, which was introduced in the 2013/14 budget for the municipal water and infrastructure grant to eradicate backlogs in water and sanitation, will increase to R2.8 billion in 2016/17, without strong leadership and skilled personnel at municipal level, these budgetary increases will be meaningless to the people.

In the department’s annual performance plan, a mention is made of the Pongolapoort bulk water scheme which is under construction. This is an example of a project that has no time frames and is meaningless to the people who do not have water now. It is tantamount to a person who stays in an abusive relationship with the hope that one day, things will change.

This is how this government has treated people in the rural areas.

The other example of sanitation issues gone wrong, involves one room houses built in Mbazwana, under the umhlabuyalingana municipality. The toilets, which have non-working septic tanks, are inside the houses. The stench is more than that of the pigs in one of the farms in the Northwest province.

These are just a few examples which need your urgent attention honourable Minister. Come and see for yourself.

As the IFP, we reluctantly support the budget.