Water services delivery in South Africa is in crisis. This state of affairs was confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina, and Director-General of Water and Sanitation, Dr Sean Phillips, during the Water Indaba, which was hosted at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.
Although the government has taken significant steps since 1994 to provide water services to most of South Africa’s population, that progress has been largely undone in recent years by drastic declines in water quality, infrastructure failure, corruption, mismanagement, and criminality. A big reason for this is the shortage of knowledgeable officials in the water services sector.
Notably, the Minister’s rebuke of municipalities and leadership of the local government association, SALGA, was that municipalities should not invoke the Department’s obligation to maintain good government relations with municipalities when it comes to dereliction of duty with regard to the maintenance of water purification works that fall under the authority of municipalities.
Almost in support of the Minister’s point on this, earlier this week, three judges of the Bloemfontein High Court, in a damning judgment against the Mafube Municipality and senior officials, including the Premier of the Free State and provincial Minister of Cooperative Government, found that officials had failed in their obligations with regard to combating sewage pollution of the Vaal and Wilge rivers.
During Water Indaba, Dr Phillips mentioned that improving water services and quality and maintaining infrastructure must be addressed immediately.
Attention should also be paid to the enormous debt municipalities owe to the national government, the development of new water resources (including underground water, desalination plants, and improved water purification for reuse), and support from the private sector.
The agricultural sector is extremely dependent on good-quality raw water, which is currently threatened by municipalities’ obvious failures in water purification works. AgriSA has been advocating national intervention in this regard for a long time and finds the seriousness of the President’s remarks particularly gratifying.
The spotlight will fall more and more on this issue in the following months.
Enquieries
Janse Rabie, AgriSA Natural Resources
janse@agrisa.org.za
