Programme Director
Acting Director-General
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) senior managers
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry staff

Introduction

Welcome to the DWAF Family Day! A great deal has happened since last year's Family Day and I believe that we have worked really hard this year and have achieved a huge amount. When I addressed you a year ago I spoke at length about some of the challenges that I found in the department and I announced my flagship projects to address these challenges. From the discussions I had in the first few months after joining DWAF my sense was that there was concern amongst staff that we were lacking leadership and direction.

My feeling this year is that not only is there a strong sense in the department that we are now moving in the right direction and showing strong leadership, but we starting to make a big impact on the sector. However, we are not quite there yet, and I hope that everyone enjoys hard work because next year we are going to be running. I wish to quote President Mbeki from his State of the Nation Address at the beginning of this year, when he said "the message that our collective experience communicates to all of us is that, working together, we can and shall succeed in meeting the common objective we have set ourselves as a nation - to build a better life for all."

Recognising the challenges that still lie ahead, the President continued and said: "We are not there yet. But no one, except ourselves, shall ensure that this dream is realized. And so, let us roll up our sleeves and get down to work, fully understanding that the task to build the South Africa we yearn is a common responsibility we all share."

Taking stock of progress made

Since announcing the flagship projects last year we have done well in implementing many of these projects, and I would like to acknowledge and thank DWAF staff for their efforts. I am aware of the long hours, nights, weekends, interrupted holidays and sacrifices of this team. Your efforts have been noticed and are appreciated.

All of our flagship projects are extremely important - both for the department and for the country, and require our full attention. During the year I added the Ministerial campaign to plant at least a million trees a year, which arose after discussions I had with the President. We successfully launched this project during Arbour Week and we have been very busy planting trees and greening the country ever since.

I am aware that often we get caught up in our day-to-day activities and focus only on our particular area of work. As a result we are not always aware of other projects that we run as DWAF with our sheer size as a department it means that there are lots of things happening across the department. Through our regular executive committee (EXco), top management, Management Committee (MANco) and Functional Management Committee meetings we have been ensuring that managers are up to date on what is taking place in the department and I hope that they are reporting back to you.

We are one DWAF and we need to know what other sections are doing and we must feel part of the DWAF Family when there are events and activities. Through Shota, the blue screen, the intranet, our web page and other publications we are sharing information in different ways and are keeping ourselves abreast of the work of DWAF. I must recognise the efforts of our communications team - it is not always an easy job with the large number of events and activities that we have but they are dedicated and hard working.

I would like to use my address today to briefly update you on the progress we have made on some of these flagship projects, I am not able to talk to all of these projects but recognise that work has happened in all of them.

Firstly, the Internal flagship projects:

1. Achieving a clean audit report during my term of office

Visible progress has been made towards this goal and we have appointed Mr Onesmus Ayaya as our Chief Financial Officer and Ms Olga Hattingh as our Deputy Chief Financial Officer, both of whom will be driving this critical project. Many of you will have already met them. A few weeks ago we launched two projects, the Sakhile and Siyanqoba projects, which once fully implemented will go a long way to addressing the Auditor-General's concerns of asset verification and revenue management. As I said at the launch of these projects, "with the establishment of the Water Infrastructure Agency the need to hand over a clean set of financials with strong business processes is critical."

These are not the only measures that we are undertaking to move towards a clean audit; we have been providing training across the department to improve our levels of financial skills and capabilities. In addition and where necessary we have been bringing additional financial staff into our regional offices.

2. Alignment of the department to address the needs of the sector

This flagship project requires that we need to have a much clearer vision of where we are moving to as a sector so that we are better able to deliver on the mandate of DWAF and achieve the broader objectives of the government. It has entailed that we evaluate the approach we have been taking so that we end up with a model that is clear to all of us, has buy-in from staff and sector players, and is implementable. By having a clear vision of where we are going, we will be able to finalise our internal restructuring processes with confidence.

There has been considerable progress on this project, and we held a stakeholder workshop at the end of October to discuss institutional alignment. At that workshop we discussed and deliberated on three different models for improved alignment. These models were developed by a Task Team comprising a PSP and DWAF officials. Certain key outcomes have started emerging but will still require significant investigation, refinement and validation, and thorough consultation with all stakeholders and affected parties will still need to be done before I can make announcements on the future institutional arrangements.

This exercise is not new, but rather the culmination of the long period of restructuring that DWAF has been going through and is a refinement of the implementation model so that we are better able to deliver on our mandate.

This project is closely linked to the external flagship project of: Improved Governance and the alignment of the DWAF Public Entities. Clarity on the institutional alignment will inform the structure of DWAF and will help us to improve our ability to govern the agencies that report to us. And as DWAF reaches the culmination of the restructuring process, which will see us becoming a department that focuses on policy, monitoring, co-ordination, regulation and oversight, so we need to be effective in providing clear direction to our institutions. To provide strong oversight, requires that we have the right structure, additional capacity, and improved ability to co-ordinate and give direction.

3. Performance management and signing of performance agreements

The report I got is that all senior managers have signed their performance agreements and we are looking forward to a proper and verifiable assessment process being undertaken at the end of the financial year. Over the next year we need to make sure that the performance management system is firmly in place for all staff in DWAF.

4. Capacity building and skills development

DWAF continues to provide opportunities for staff development and personal growth through the bursary and training programmes. We have also established the Learning Academy that now has close to 100 graduates who are being exposed to both practical and academic issues. We will be officially launching the Learning Academy next year. We also have continued with the intern programme, which is also providing scope for young graduates to be exposed to the workplace.

And the External flagship projects:

1. Empowerment of women

The empowerment of women has an internal and external focus. Internally during the women's month we launched the first "women indaba". The Indaba is creating space for women to articulate own needs and generate solutions, facilitate solidarity among women of DWAF and is providing a platform to share with and learn from each other thereby advancing the cause of gender equality. From that indaba we learnt that:
* There is a need to bridge the gap between women in management and other levels.
* Inter-gender communication and understanding needs to be improved as there is perception that women inputs are not valued by male managers or supervisors.
* Women are not taking full advantage of the training that is available in DWAF.

We also conducted a gender audit during the course of the year. It focused on women at levels one to three and revealed that there are high levels of illiteracy amongst those women; they are suffering from low levels of self-esteem, and particularly for women working in our forests who face challenges of domestic violence.

We have planned a number of interventions to address the challenges; which include creating more platforms for women to have dialogues, the need to have awareness and training on gender equality for male employees, a review the effectiveness Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) must be conducted and we must provide awareness and empower our staff on how to deal with domestic violence. During this 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children it is particularly important that we support our staff so that they are able to deal with any form of domestic violence or abuse that might be happening in their home.

Our external focus to support women in the water and forestry sector, has seen us making a commitment to launching an organisation for women in the sector where they can network, share information and be exposed to the opportunities in the sector.

2. Our second external flagship project is the Forest Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Charter.

We launched the charter in June this year during a Forestry Sector Indaba. This charter will go a long way in helping us redress past discrimination experienced in this sector, and contribute to lifting people out of poverty. The charter makes a number of commitments that will see the expansion of the land under forests and supporting the industry to remain globally competitive. In the next year our efforts will be focused on the implementation of the charter.

3. Meeting the water and sanitation targets (and support to Local Government).

Our most pressing targets are the eradication of bucket sanitation in the formal established areas of our country by December 2007, and the supply of water and sanitation to all clinics. Progress to meet these targets has been proceeding very well and the clinics target will be met, while there will be a small shortfall in the bucket eradication target. I have recently made announcements in the press that by the end of December the overwhelming majority of the buckets will be removed with the remaining 16 000 removed by next year March. We have been running at full steam to achieve these two targets and I am very pleased with the progress we have made.

Going forward we have the massive targets of achieving universal access to water and sanitation. These targets will require a considerable amount of energy over the next few years. The backlog that we need to address still remains significant yet it is within our power to ensure that over the next few years there is provision of basic services to all our people.

4. Water conservation and water demand management

All of us at DWAF understand the importance of water and how water contributes to growth and development; yet there is still so much water being wasted in our country. I was therefore very pleased that earlier this week we launched the Water Conservation and Water Demand Management pilot project in Mangaung, Free State; this project will see eight municipalities from around the country implementing a number of measures to save water.

These measures include: a Waterwise Campaign to make people more aware of the scarcity of water; technical interventions to repair leaks, replace the old plumbing that uses too much water, and installing devices that can save water; economic tools such as pricing and incentives; and bylaws on the use of water. There are a number of other measures that we will implement at a national level to promote water conservation and I am looking forward to this programme picking up speed next year.

The Working for Water programme is an important part of our efforts to increase the availability of water by removing invasive alien vegetation. This programme has done remarkably well this year and Cabinet earlier this week increased the budget allocation of Working for Water by R95 million over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

5. The establishment of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency

Progress has been made in this project and even though there have been delays we should soon see the Agency being created. This agency will ensure the better utilisation of Water Resource Infrastructure by having a dedicated organisation that develops and maintains the vast network of dams, canals, pipelines, pump stations and tunnels that currently resides with DWAF. The creation of this agency is part of our efforts to improve our institutional alignment. By drawing on the expertise of Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) and revenue stream of the Water Trading Account of the Department it will allow for greater involvement of capital markets into the development of new water infrastructure for the country.

The relevant Bill for the establishment of the Agency served before Cabinet in August 2007, and the next step is to submit the Bill to Parliament for consideration and passage thereof into legislation. We have recently appointed a Project Manager for this mammoth project, Ms Nontutuzelo Majija, who will be critical in driving the successful establishment of the Agency and incorporation of the infrastructure branch and TCTA into the new institution. I have no doubt that a lot of work will need to be done to ensure a smooth transition into the Agency and during this process we need to make sure that work does not stop and projects continue as planned while we go about bringing two different ways of working into one institution.

6. Water quality management, as well as the management and maintenance of this infrastructure

We have done well this year in rolling out the drinking water quality monitoring programme as well as our efforts to work closely with municipalities to ensure they have the capacity to deliver on their mandate. I remain confident of the quality of drinking water across the country because of these efforts and because of the systems in place. These systems are able to tell us that compliance with our national standards has been very high, particularly in the urban areas. With 2010 FIFA World Cup approaching and hundreds of thousands of visitors coming to South Africa, we see our good drinking water quality as a way of marketing South Africa. Of some concern to me is the quality of our raw water and much more will need to be done in this area during the year ahead.

7. Strategic engagement with other African countries on water and forestry issues, in particular the relationships within our region. South Africa has continued to make its voice heard in the international arena and continues to receive recognition for our progressive laws and policies, and progress made in ensuring access to water and sanitation. Our presence was felt at the Stockholm World Water Week this year and in other significant international events.

Within Africa we have been actively involved in the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW), the African Network of Basin Organisations (ANBO), and Southern African Development Community (SADC) Water Ministers meetings.

In support of New Partnership for Africa s Development (Nepad) we have been working with the Katanga Province in the Department of Republic Congo (DRC), to assist them with a number of water challenges they are facing. During the year received a delegation from Katanga who underwent training, and next year we look forward to increasing our support for them. On the forestry side we have participated in a number of international fora, and next year we will be co-hosting an international workshop on Forestry, Governance and Decentralisation in Africa, which will be held in Durban in April 2008.

Conclusion

To conclude, I have provided progress on most of the flagship projects which I announced last year, and from this update it is clear that we are doing very well as a department. Through this focus I believe that DWAF is becoming a great place to work. These flagship projects will continue as the issues they address are ongoing. In addition, for the year ahead we will need to include: 2010 FIFA World Cup and Climate Change into our list of priority areas, as well as our focus on Water for Growth and Development, which is broader in scope than access to water and sanitation. We also need to start looking at the full implementation of our legislation and deal with the gaps that remain.

There have been a number of highlights this year, which include:

a. Receiving the International Technical Excellence award for the Wolwedans Dam from the President of the International Commission for Large Dams at recent event in China.
b. The start of impounding water for the Berg River Dam.
c. The launch of the start of construction of the De Hoop Dam.
d. Progress made in respect of meeting the water and sanitation targets.
e. The launch of the programme to plant at least one million trees a year.
f. The release for public comment on the Forestry Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Charter and the Forestry Indaba.
g. Hosting a major International Conference on integrated Catchment Management; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) HELP Symposium which took place in November 2007.
h. The continued impact being made in water conservation, job creation, and fire prevention by the Working for Water, Working on Fire and Working for Wetlands programmes.
i. The running of four successful focus weeks: Water Week, Sanitation Week, Arbour Week, and Weedbuster Week.
j. The progress made in building a committed, motivated inspired and focused management team and dedicated staff

There are also a number of successes which I have not mentioned; and there are many other projects and programmes that we are working on as DWAF, which I have not been able to cover. All these activities make an impact on the lives of South Africans and whilst I have not mentioned them specifically today, you know how critical the work that you do is for the country.

The impact that we are making as a department has again been recognised, and for the second year running we won the Vuna Award This award which we received on Tuesday is for our continued and exemplary support to local government.

Finally, I would like to thank all staff for the work that they have put in during the past year and I am excited about what we will be able to achieve in the New Year. I wish you all wonderful festive seasons and a Happy New Year. May you please all travel safely on our roads; let us not drink and walk; and let us not drink and drive; let us all arrive alive!

I thank you.