Source: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
Title: R Kasrils: Establishment of Inkomati Catchment Management Agency
STATEMENT BY MINISTER RONNIE KASRILS ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INKOMATI CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT AGENCY, 30 March 2004
The fundamental goal of our Government is the eradication of poverty. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry's slogan "Water washing away poverty" underpins the many programmes and projects that will achieve this objective. One of our mot important projects, which form part of the process that devolves the function of implementation and delivery, is the establishment of Catchment Management Agencies CMA. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry sees the establishment of CMA's as a key tool that will encourage and ensure the empowerment and up-liftment of our marginalized communities by promoting public participation in water resources management. The CMA places emphasis on Local Government's developmental role. Both CMAs and Local Government are required to have a strong sense of the needs of communities, as well as having to provide channels for communication so that communities can air their views and their frustrations and explain their requirements. Both the CMA and Local Government will have to monitor and evaluate the efficacy of their actions in the task of serving the communities. These processes have to be participative in nature, and therefore, we need to bear in mind, involve a great deal of time and effort.
The 30 March 2004 marks a Historical day in our current History as the First Catchment Management Agency is launched in the Inkomati Water Management Area. This area is located in Mpumalanga Province. This launch is the first of many such agencies that are to be established in the 19 Water Management areas, as prescribed by the act.
This Catchment Management Agency will ensure equitable, efficient and sustainable water resource management as access to these resources are key to achieving social, economic and environmental integrity and justice. Being closer to the ground and therefore closer to the people upon which water resources management impacts will provide the perfect opportunity to give true effect to Integrated Water Resource Management approaches.
On a more technical note, the CMA will have a Governing Board, whose responsibility will be Integrated Water Resources Management. This Board must represent the various sectors of society within that water management area and will be appointed to represent water users, potential water users, local and provincial government and environmental interest groups, as well as to develop a Catchment Management Strategy. This Strategy will provide the plan against which the water resources of the water management area are to be managed. This will be done within the framework of the various Acts as well as the Constitution of South Africa, which requires the development of co-operative governance.
Effective and efficient Integrated Water Resource Management is dependent on the active participation and commitment from of all sectors of South African Society. The goal of Co-operative Governance is imperative and the need to build capacity will be an ongoing process in order to achieve informed decision-making that has at its heart the will of the people.
Ronnie Kasrils, MP
Minster of Water Affairs and Forestry
Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
30 March 2004
Source: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (http://www.dwaf.gov.za)
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