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Date: 13/07/2004
Source: Ministry of Water Affairs and Forestry
Title: B Sonjica: 10th Year celebration of EU co-operation in water sector in SA


10TH YEAR CELEBRATION OF THE EU CO-OPERATION IN THE WATER SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA SPEECH BY MINISTER BP SONJICA, MP, MINISTER OF WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY, 13 July 2004

Honourable Commissioner Poul Nielsen
Ambassador Lake of the EU
Premier of Limpopo, Mr Sello Moloto
MEC for Housing and Local Government, Ms Rosina Semenya
MEC for Agriculture, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi
Executive Mayor of Vhembe District Municipality, Mr SE Moeti
Mayor of Thulamela Municipality, Khosi Vho-Makumbane
Members of the Diplomatic Community
Traditional Leadership
Ladies and gentlemen, Good Morning.

It is a great honour for me to address you this morning to celebrate ten years of co-operation between the government of a democratic South Africa and the European Union (EU) and its Commission in meeting the most vital need of our people - clean water and safe sanitation.

I need to begin by thanking the EU on behalf of South Africa for their continuous support to service delivery and poverty alleviation and as the largest donor to SA. The financial support from the EU to the water sector since 1994 has been ~140 Million, more than one thousand million Rand.

Commissioner Nielsen, I know you are not new to South Africa especially not to Limpopo Province. During WSSD in Johannesburg in September 2002, together with my predecessor, you visited Vergelen Village near Bochum and stressed the priority of providing safe drinking water and sanitation to all. As important, the EU's member governments were busy at the negotiating tables to ensure that sanitation was recognised as a global development goal. Political support for the sanitation goal is, just as much as your development support to us, a clear sign of the EU's commitment to helping the people of Africa attain a better life.

The EU's involvement in South Africa's water sector dates back before 1994 when, as a contribution to the transformation and democratisation of the country, the EU supported the Kagiso Trust's rural water programme. The Mvula Trust, today a respected NGO, was founded as part of that far-sighted initiative, to implement the programme and lay the foundation for our co-operation today.

Following the achievement of democracy, the EU expanded its support to the sector, through the DWAF Community Water Supply and Sanitation programme in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape and with a continuation of support to civil society through the NGO Rural Water Supply Programme implemented by Mvula Trust. In addition, the EU provided direct support to SADC water sector projects involving South Africa.

South Africa is fortunate to have enough resources to address most of its development challenges although additional donor assistance helps us to speed up the process as well as to do the job better. But we quickly learnt that co-operation with donors brings challenges. Based on what we learned in these initial projects, the Masibambane Programme was designed.

A key challenge is to ensure that donor assistance is effectively designed and managed to support local development strategies rather than leading in different directions.

For this reason we sought with the Masibambane Programme to achieve co-ordination between the many bilateral donors who have so generously contributed to our transition from apartheid as well as to support South Africa's own water sector programme rather than to operate projects parallel to it. The Sector Wide Approach harmonised donor requirements, minimised transaction costs and reduced delays, ensuring that more of the money reached those for whom it was intended.

This budget support approach is, we believe, what we should be striving towards elsewhere in Africa if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of safe water and sanitation throughout the continent. This is why we have been working with our fellow Africans to put in place the African Water Facility, which was launched at the African Development Bank water week in Tunis earlier this month.

The Masibambane Programme has also highlighted our approach of "learning by doing". It included the development of sector institutions with a particular focus on local governments, which are responsible for service provision. But this capacity development has been accompanied by programmes of infrastructure provision so that all concerned gain practical experience of the planning, construction and operation of water service schemes. This is the approach that we are promoting more broadly in Africa through the African Water Facility.

The project we are opening today, the Xikundu Water Treatment Works, is a good example of the kind of support that has been provided. The project forms part of the Luvuvhu River Government Water Scheme which includes the Nandoni Dam, built to provide a reliable supply of water, even in drought years. It can produce 20 Megalitres of pure water every day and will provide a reliable supply to 183 500 people once all have been connected to the system.

Already the plant has begun to supply water to villages that did not have access to safe drinking water before, including Xikundu Village. A connection to the existing Malamulele-Mhinga pipeline has dramatically improved supply reliability for 60 000 people previously receiving water from the overstretched Malamulele Water Works. When the distribution pipeline to the Tshifudi Area is commissioned within the next few weeks, it will supply another 36 500 people. Finally, another 81 000 people will be supplied in the Malamulele East area, by October.

However, the challenges of providing water services to all are not yet over.

There is still a massive sanitation backlog in this area although good progress has been made as we will see in Xikundu Village where there has been a programme to build VIP toilets. I am pleased to say that health and hygiene promotion have been part of the programme. I would like to commend Vhembe District Municipality for appointing Mrs Tshiololi as its dedicated District Sanitation Co-ordinator to address health, hygiene and sanitation.

Our new water schemes must also be managed properly so that people get a reliable supply. Recent surveys indicate that on any one-day, as many as 2% of South African households are not getting water from their normal source due to supply interruptions. This is not good enough and local government's management capacity must be improved, a key focus for my Department in the next few years.

As part of Government's programme to empower local government, funding for infrastructure development is now being channelled directly to municipalities through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant. Departments like DWAF will support Local Government to plan and implement water supply and sanitation programmes.

To take this ambitious programme forward, we are fortunate to be able to count on the ongoing support of the EU. I understand that a committee is sitting in Brussels, as we speak, to consider a further three year programme of support to South Africa's Water Services Sector valued at ~50 million (fifty million Euro = three hundred and seventy five million Rand).

If - I would rather be hopeful and say WHEN - this is approved; the funds will be used to support Local Government to use the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to further reduce the basic infrastructure backlog and to achieve reliable and sustainable services. The programme will be led by DWAF together with our key local government partners, SALGA and DPLG. It will complement and support the investment by government of approximately R22, 5 billion over the same period.

Commissioner Nielsen is serving his last term in office as the Commissioner for Development and will leave his post at the end of this year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all the support provided and, on behalf of the people of South Africa, to wish him all the best in his future.

To the diplomatic community from the EU member states present here, I would like to thank you for all your contributions in providing financial and technical support to the water sector in South Africa. Your support is highly appreciated.

To my brother Premier Sello Moloto, to MEC Semenya and Mayor Moeti, I am delighted to come to this part of the "far north" and find that the poorest people are already receiving Free Basic Water and that the Vhembe DM is implementing an Indigent Policy to target that free water supply to all households with an income of less than R1 100 a month. This giant step will assist these poor communities to focus their limited financial resources on other needs such as food and education, demonstrating that water really can wash away poverty.

To the traditional leadership in the area, you lived and worked together before the apartheid government separated you; now we need to pull together again, as in our Masibambane Programme, and lead our communities to improve their lives. I know that my officials have a very good working relationship with all of you and I would like to appeal to all Mahosi and Tinduna to participate and encourage your people to participate in all water development activities. This will help us to make sound decisions about our use of this life-giving resource.

Finally, I would like to thank the community of Xikundu Village and the other villages around for helping to ensure that this event, like this project, is a success. We are working for you but, through your co-operation and commitment, you are showing other communities in the country how to make development happen.

Issued by: Ministry of Water Affairs and Forestry
13 July 2004

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