Date: 15/04/2010
Source: Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Morgan: Speech by DA Member of Parliament on Water and Environmental Affairs budget vote, National Assembly

Honourable Chair, Honourable Minister, Honourable Members of Parliament


"No person may unlawfully and intentionally or negligently commit any act or omission which pollutes or is likely to pollute a water resource." This is one of the many offences laid out in the National Water Act, the foundation of water governance in South Africa. Legislators in this House passed this legislation more than a decade ago, with the full expectation that it would be implemented. Yet, there are literally dozens of municipalities in this country that place our people and the environment at risk through the discharge of sewage into our water courses, or even worse, directly into our streets.

The Department of Water Affairs seeks compliance with the Water Act by attempting to persuade transgressors. And yes, the Act does allow for the provision of notices and directives to allow a transgressor to rectify the non-compliance, but the big stick of criminal charges against municipalities that continually transgress is being avoided by the Department. In replies to DA parliamentary questions the Minister told this House that at least forty municipalities in South Africa were issued with Section 19(3) notices in 2009 for polluting the environment. In some cases municipalities do not respond, and they have to be reminded by the Department, while in other cases their responses, which should contain substantial remediation plans, are simply inadequate.

Consider the case of Madibeng municipality in North West province where the spillage of sewage into the Hartebeespoort Dam has become a persistent problem. A municipal official from Madibeng is on record as saying that local residents will just have to get used to [sewage spillages] because there is no money to buy pumps or repair existing pumps. There are apparently several criminal charges that have been laid against the municipality at the Hartebeespoort police station for leaking sewage, but it is understood that the local police do not have any appetite for enforcing environmental laws. A DA councillor, Eddie Barlow, has laid charges against the same municipality, for among other things, pollution of the Crocodile River and the streets of Brits. The outrage from residents of this municipality over water supply and water quality issues is substantial. There are many involved community groups who are prepared to work with the municipality to solve problems. But the municipal officials lurch from precipitating one environmental disaster to the next. Using the persuasive clauses of the Water Act in Madibeng does not appear to be working. In Madibeng a criminal prosecution should be pursued.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the case of 8 current and former officials of Matjhabeng municipality in the Free State who have been charged under the Water Act for not attending to persistent and ongoing pollution events. This case is before the court, following charges, by among other people, DA MPL Peter Frewen. I hope a precedent can be set here, and that it will serve as a wake up call to municipal managers around the country.

The DA welcomes the earmarked amount of R5m in the budget for setting up a dedicated Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Unit. We trust that this unit, which will presumably be the home of the Blue Scorpions, will provide the necessary capacity for dealing decisively with offences under the Water Act.

Deal with the backlog of water use licences for mines

Entities which extract water require a water use licence under the Water Act. In a reply to a DA parliamentary question last year, it was revealed that 104 mines in South Africa were operating without a valid water licence, of which the majority are in Limpopo province. The DA welcomes the Minister's commitment to rectifying this situation, and admittedly the backlog has since then been slightly reduced, but what I cannot understand is why operations at these mines are not suspended, or why indeed they are allowed to begin in the first place. I understand that there is now a process whereby the Water Department and the Department of Mineral Resources are working on a co-operative authorisation, and it is noted that the Regulations on the Use of Water for Mining are out for public comment at the moment. It must be stressed, however, that every mine must have an Integrated Water Management Plan before a water licence can be issued. Further, every effort must be made by the Department to ensure that it does not deviate from its own Best Practice Guideline on Water Management Aspects for Mine Closure, which is not currently happening.

Respond purposefully to the AMD threat

The threat that mining poses to our water courses is substantial. One only needs to look at the decant of acid mine water in the West Rand to understand the legacy of mining in that area. And while we debate here today the acid mine water in the Central Basin is rising steadily to the surface, and if left unattended, will wreak havoc in Johannesburg in the near future.

The DA welcomes the Minister's recent financial commitment to begin dealing with the decant in the West Rand. It must be said, however, that the decant has been occurring since 2002, and so the intervention is rather late. The DA urges the Minister to commit her department to dealing with the 8 years of environmental damage caused by the decant in the area, and to assist in rehabilitating the Robinson Lake which contains Uranium levels 40 000 times above background Uranium levels. Also, the Minister should commit to addressing the AMD that is flowing in the Zwartkrans Compartment, which threatens the Cradle of Humankind and the drinking water of 11 000 people.

Improve scientific capacity in dealing with water quality

Besides the threat that AMD poses to water quality, the Department must respond decisively to the problem of eutrophication and endocrine disrupting compounds in our water courses. Our eutrophication levels are among the highest in the world, and there are at least 19 major dams that are either eutrophic or incipient eutrophic. Eutrophication has implications for economic development and drives up production costs, not to mention the severe effect it can have on our population which contains a high number of people with severely compromised immune systems. We need to rebuild our scientific capacity at a national level to deal with these problems. The Department must realise that engineering solutions are not alone adequate in this regard, and that a new wave of scientifically informed thinking is required.

Engage with water users

Last week, on the same day that the World Bank was deliberating over whether to grant Eskom a $3.7bn dollar loan for Medupi, I was in Lephalale, only a few kilometres from the Medupi building site. My colleague, Annette Lovemore, and I met with representatives of Eskom, AgriSA, Exxaro mine and the local chamber of commerce to discuss the implications of Medupi and the proposed Kusile power plants on water provision to various water users in the area. Coal power plants are thirsty animals, and Medupi, Kusile and a possible new SASOL plant, have the potential to wreak havoc on other water users. On average, a 1000MW of installed coal power uses the equivalent water of more than 120 000 households. Medupi has a 95% assurance of supply from the Department of Water Affairs, which suggests that when times are tough, competing water users will be negatively affected. Madam Minister, the farmers in this area, many of whom have water rights for at least the next 15 years, are justifiably concerned about this situation. Their farms cannot exist without water. It is important that the Department addresses this issue, and in addition, that the Department meets with the affected farmers to discuss the issue of compensation for rights that may have no guarantee of being realised.

Address the financial woes of water boards

Water Boards perform a valuable role in South Africa. They pull together various water resources in an area and ensure that the water is purified and delivered to water users. The performance of water boards is mixed. The last few months has seen one Board, Albany Coast, disestablished due to reasons of unviability. Namaqua had a negative net profit margin of 176% last year, while Betshelo had a debt ratio of 217%. What is most shocking is that in reply to a DA parliamentary question the Minister revealed that at the latest date for which information is available R1.2bn was owing to water boards by municipalities. This figure had increased from R1.1bn owing on 31 July 2009. Bushbuckridge for example, had over R151m owing to it, of which R147m was arrears, while Lepelle Northern had over R249m owing to it, of which R231m was in arrears.

Madam Minister, please ensure that the National Treasury, which has a mandate to mediate between Water Boards and municipalities in terms of section 44 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, pressurises municipalities to pay their outstanding debts. There should be punitive measures taken against municipalities that are tardy in paying.

Review the water tariff structure transparently

The Department has begun a process of reviewing the water tariff regime. We know that a substantial portion of the water infrastructure is in a poor or very poor condition. Realistically there needs to be R1bn allocated to maintenance of infrastructure for the next 10 to 12 years, but there is only approximately R350m allocated in this year's budget. The Department tells us that there is a R2.6bn shortfall on the water trading account, which is no doubt a warning that water users can expect a significant readjustment upwards of tariffs in the future. Madam Minister, you are the champion of this review, and we urge you to consult widely and to make use of the brightest minds in completing this project. The hard pressed consumer cannot be expected to deal with another Eskom-like tariff price hike. The DA supports the establishment of an independent regulator that will set water tariffs. We hope that this matter will be pursued as soon as possible.

Improve governance issues

It is commendable that the Department achieved an unqualified audit opinion in 2008-2009, although with regards to performance information, some performance indicators that were reported in the last annual performance report were inconsistent with the indicators in the business plan. We trust the situation will reflect better in the 2009-10 report.
Lastly, Madam Minister please resolve the issue of the status of the Director-General, who has now been on special leave for almost nine months on full pay. The investigation to determine whether she has any charges to face, only started this year, and almost R1m has been spent on it thus far. Surely you should know by now whether the DG should be allowed to return to work or whether she should be fired? The expense to the taxpayer is immense, and the leadership of the Department is being compromised.