Source: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
Title: B Sonjica: North West Water Summit
Speech by Ms BP Sonjica, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry at North West Water Summit, Mmabatho Convention Centre, Mafikeng
Programme Director
Premier Edna Molewa
MEC: Developmental Local Government and Housing, Mr Penye Vilakazi
Members of the Executive Council
Mayors and Councillors
Distinguished guests
Departmental officials
Magosi a rona
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with great pleasure that I stand here before you at the beginning of yet another year that also promises to bring about events that will contribute to changing lives of our communities for the better.
As we all know and agree, Water is life, without Water, there would be no economy, no services of any kind, and indeed no life at all. Managing this resource to meet the Developmental challenges of this Province to give a better life for all as espoused in the Freedom Charter should be a priority.
Most of you are aware of the legislatory framework that guides the provision and management of water. The White Paper, which was developed in 1995, laid a basis for the Water Services Act of 1997 and later the National Water Act of 1998. The fundamental principle of both pieces legislations is that water belongs to the people of South Africa. It is therefore the responsibility of my Department to ensure that this resource is managed in a sustainable manner for the social and economic benefit of all our people.
Whilst we are proud of the progress made with regard to the provision of basic water and to some extent, sanitation services, we still have millions of people in this Province without access to such services. In addition to challenges of provision of this service, we have to ensure that we address past inequities in allocation of water resources.
I must start by reminding you all again that South Africa is a water scarce country. Because we really try to manage water well, we sometimes forget that we are on the edge of what is internationally defined as water scarcity in terms of how little water we have available per person.
Because we are so short of water, we must ensure that we get as much benefit from its use as possible. That means we have to be careful and efficient in the way we use water and we need to be clever too ,
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