Question NW2962 to the Minister of Water and Sanitation
02 October 2023 - NW2962
Mohlala, Ms MR to ask the Minister of Water and Sanitation
Whether his department has moved for critical water and sanitation infrastructure projects to be declared as national key points, with the necessary security to reduce the countrywide theft and vandalism of infrastructure, which impacts service delivery to communities; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
Yes, as an asset owner the Department had some of the national water resource infrastructure declared as National Key Points, dependent on the criticality of specific government water schemes. All of these National Key points are guarded by qualified armed security guards which are officials in the department whereas non-strategic assets are guarded by private security companies. It must be noted that due to the nature of conveyance systems (including canals, pipelines and tunnels), it would be challenging to have sufficient security measures in place to completely mitigate the risk of vandalism.
However, there are operating and maintenance agreements with water boards and water user associations for government water schemes that are remotely located. These institutions assist with the safeguarding of these assets.
Water Boards have taken similar steps to have some of their critical infrastructure declared as National Key Points, but more is to be done for similar classification strategies to be followed at the municipal level; regarding local water and sanitation assets (owned by municipalities).
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