12 February 2002
1. INTRODUCTION
In a little more than six months, South Africa will be hosting the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. In my contribution to this briefing, I will seek to provide some focus on this important event, illustrated by perspectives from my Department.
I begin by emphasising that our Government believes that sustainable development in South Africa can only be achieved through a focus on poverty eradication and economic development.
This has been my guiding vision in my tenure as Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry. Today I will report to you about the progress we have achieved towards the realisation of this vision as well as discuss certain key issues which will arise during the year across the three core areas of activitity - water service provision, water resource management and forestry.
2. COMMUNITY WATER SUPPLY PROGRAMME - MEETING THE MILLENNIUM TARGETS
I will start with our Community Water Supply and Sanitation Programme. My colleague the Minister of Health is my great ally in this anti-poverty programme; she never fails to emphasise the importance of clean water - and safe sanitation - for improving the health of our people. For our people, water is a high priority although happily each year, fewer and fewer people remain deprived.
The programme continues to make inroads into the backlog of 14 million inherited by Government in 1994. My department has provided access to clean safe water for approximately 7,068 million people in rural areas at a cost of R4,5 billion - this in addition to the major strides made by local government and housing in meeting the needs of our rapidly growing cities and towns.
At the Earth Summit, we will be focusing on the key targets set by the Heads of State at the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations in 2000. They declared that by 2015 the number of the world's population who at present do not have access to basic water must be reduced by 50%.
In this context, South Africa has performed remarkably well. We have in fact halved our unserved population in just seven years and are on target to wipe out the entire backlog by 2008 if we maintain our current rate of progress.
Co-ordination with local government has been dramatically improved. This year 90% of rural projects will have been identified and prioritised in the Integrated Development Planning process. This is part of our effort to ensure that once built, the projects continue to function effectively. For us, sustainable development is just as much about water supplies which continue to work as an environment which continues to be protected.
In the coming financial year we have allocated an amount of R1,215 billion for the programme - including sanitation. By the end of this financial year we will have reached over 1 million people who previously had no access to safe clean water, at a cost of R 841 million, the water supply component of this year's overall R1,12 billion for water services programmes.
Since 1994, in the Eastern Cape 1,3 million people have been served; in KwaZulu-Natal 1,6 million; and in North West 1,3 million. 931 000 people have benefited in Northern Province, 612 000 in the Free State, 922 000 in Mpumalanga, 190 000 in Northern Cape and 136 000 in the Western Cape.
3. FREE BASIC WATER - KEEPING ACCESS A REALITY
It is no use providing water infrastructure if people cannot afford to access it. This point has been recognised internationally and, at the Bonn Freshwater Conference in December last year, it was accepted as policy. At home, the Free Basic Water programme is turning theory into practice in our fight to eradicate poverty. I am pleased to say that already 66% of the total population in the country who have access to water infrastructure are benefiting from the policy. 26 million people have access to 6000 litres of free water per household per month.
Implementation is not without obstacles. Obviously, the 7 million people without infrastructure cannot benefit until supplies are provided, we hope by the latest in 2008. Certain municipalities are still struggling to set up the physical and accounting systems to implement free basic water. My department is providing technical support to help them.
There remains some uncertainty about the responsibilities of Local and District (so-called B and C) municipalities which is compounding the problem and I am working with Minister Mufamadi to address this. Finally, this policy will only be implemented successfully if cost recovery from higher volume water users is effective and again, we are providing support to local government to achieve this.
A provincial breakdown of figures show that: 59 percent of people living in North West are receiving free basic water;90 percent in the Western Cape; 91 percent in Gauteng; 82 percent in Free State; 44 percent in Mpumalanga; 36 percent in the Eastern Cape; 37 percent in the Northern Province; 50 percent in Northern Cape and 39 percent in KwaZulu-Natal. This is significant progress if one considers that we only launched the policy in July 2001.
In order to ensure that the investments made continue to meet peoples' needs, ongoing support and monitoring is vital. To this end, a national water service information service is being developed. A great deal of information about infrastructure provision is already available on the Departmental Geographic Information System which is linked to that of other Departments and local governments. The focus in the coming year will be to upgrade information on the functioning of water service infrastructure to ensure that standards for the quality of water provided and the reliability of the service are monitored and improved. The Department will be collaborating with the World Water Assessment Programme of UNESCO which has offered technical assistance in this regard.
4. SANITATION
As you know, water supply is only half the water services. Sanitation, as elsewhere in the developing countries, has been the forgotten orphan child and I remain committed to changing this. We are finally beginning to see results. The adoption by Government of the White Paper on Sanitation and a national implementation strategy to beat the backlog by 2010 has certainly provided the impetus for accelerated sanitation delivery with our programme involving several departments, most notably health and provincial and local government.
During this financial year, my department expects to spend approximately R124 million on sanitation programmes, with 55000 toilets constructed, serving approximately 434 000 people. Construction is increasingly by the communities and households concerned, creating in the current year 8875 employment opportunities of which 2516 have been for women. My aim is to ensure that the budget allocation for sanitation programmes increases steadily over the coming years, without prejudice to the pace of progress in water supply.
5. CHOLERA
The cholera outbreak in KwaZulu Natal last year was a wake up call to us all. Effective sanitation is one key to breaking the chain of transmission of cholera and many other diseases. Our cholera prevention campaign will continue to target communities at risk with support and education ,emphasising the three barriers to water-borne diseases : safe water, sanitation and hygiene awareness.
In response to the recent outbreak of cholera in Ladysmith and surrounding areas an additional amount of R 25 million was allocated for the provision of emergency water services infrastructure. This is in addition to funds made available by the Departments of Health and Local Government themselves for hygiene education, temporary water tanker services and the provision of bleach for household disinfection of water.
R81 million has already been channelled to District Municipalities since August 2000, additional to the R300 million annual allocation to KwaZulu -Natal for water services projects. Since the outbreak in Mqanduli near Umtata, my department has been working closely with Provincial Departments of Health, Education and the OR Tambo District Municipality in a programme of hygiene education, environmental water sampling on rivers/streams/springs, and the construction of 300 emergency VIP toilets. Further assistance through the purchase of bleach and the provision of vehicles for health and hygiene awareness training is being considered. The department's regional office has reallocated a further R5 million for cholera prevention in the area.
Nevertheless, we should warn that, while there continues to be poverty in our land, we will continue to see outbreaks of cholera. We expect the current outbreak to rumble on until the end of summer and probably, on past experience, to resurge again next year although we hope at a much lower level.
6. WASH CAMPAIGN - GLOBAL FOCUS ON THE HOLY TRINITY
In the absence of basic services cholera and similar diseases will always be a threat, compounded by a lack of health and hygiene education. This is why we regard water, sanitation and hygiene as entry points for poverty alleviation and why health education in partnership with my colleague the Minister of Health is an integral part of our sanitation programmes.
In the run up to the Earth Summit (where an international target for sanitation improvement will be proposed), we will be launching the WASH CAMPAIGN (water, sanitation and hygiene for all) in South Africa. By so doing we join the United Nations Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council in a global alliance for making safe water, sanitation and hygiene a reality for all people on earth. This campaign focuses on the simple act of washing hands after going to the toilet, before handling food or eating. Just washing hands has been shown to reduce illness and death from water borne disease by as much as 40%. We must all popularise the WASH campaign and you will be hearing much more about it in the coming year.
7. THE NATIONAL WATER RESOURCE STRATEGY - ENSURING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR OUR SOCIETY
While the provision of basic services is a vital contribution to poverty alleviation, it is equally important to ensure that we can meet the water needs of the growing economy which provides our people with jobs and incomes. A key challenge to be addressed at the Earth Summit will be the sustainable use of natural resources -such as water - to meet the needs of the world's growing population without causing irretrievable damage to the environment.
One step to ensure that we live within our water means will be the publication later this year of the draft National Water Resource Strategy. This will provide the national framework within which South Africa's water resources will be protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled. It will indicate, for instance, where water is available for development and for additional irrigation. It will identify where new investment will be needed to meet domestic and municipal needs as well as where difficult choices have to be made - between power stations and new mines for example. It will provide the basis for achieving fair arrangements with neighbours who share our rivers.
The strategy will also outline the financial and institutional strategies to be adopted and outline a timetable for completing the restructuring of the water management institutions already initiated in terms of the 1997 national water policy.
The strategy will describe provisions for: water resource protection, water use and how it would be authorised, water conservation and demand management, water pricing, the institutional arrangements for water resource management, infrastructure development, monitoring and information systems and public safety in water matters.
The above information will be given in the context of the present and future status of our water resources in terms of availability and requirements. Measures will be proposed by which a sustainable balance between water availability and requirements for water may be achieved in the long term.
Co-operation among all spheres of Government is essential for the success of water resource management. The strategy will take account of the policies and laws of other Government departments, but we will have to ensure that all spheres of government are aware of the implications for them.
Because so many sectors of society are affected, there will be a substantial process of consultation before the strategy is finally adopted to guide the plans of action of the Department
9. SABIE RIVER WATER DEVELOPMENTS - FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE
Of course we are not starting from zero and already a great deal i!fit for society that we derive from our limited water resources. A good example is the new Inyaka Dam on the tributary of the Sabie River. Built at a cost of about R420 million, the dam has already begun to store water and will officially be opened in the next few months. The dam has a number of social, economic and environmental objectives, namely :
Arrangements are already being put in place to use the water. Bushbuckridge Water Board has been established to take responsibility for bulk provision of treated water, while the local authorities will deal with reticulation to the end user. The rehabilitation of the irrigation is being undertaken in conjunction with the Provincial agricultural departments.
The social and environmental aspects of the project are notable. The communities of Bushbuckridge and Nsikazi participated in the project by being on the project steering committee thereby involved in all decisions, over 80% of the 530 people workers employed were local, training and skills were provided (over 3000 worker/days of formal training was provided), schools visited the site as part of educational tours, graves from the construction site were relocated and indigenous medicinal plants and craft materials from the dam basin were also relocated
FORESTRY RESTRUCTURING
Finally, I should report on the restructuring of our forestry operations. The restructuring of the commercial forest plantations is being done in a way which ensures that they continue to contribute to rural economic development and to poverty reduction in rural communities in particular. We will continue with this process, and especially concentrate on the smaller plantations that may be more suitable for smaller investors and beneficiaries.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the restructuring has come about where it has been decided that commercial forestry is not necessarily the best land use in particular areas. Following a Cabinet decision on this, I have recently begun to transfer approximately 20 000 hectares of forests in the Bushbuckridge area to conservation purposes. This will be a challenging process and we need to ensure that the benefits from new activities outweigh the losses of existing forestry jobs. We are sure that they will and have given ourselves a five year period in which to achieve this.
The phasing out of forestry in this area follows a similar approach in KwaZulu Natal where a portion of the forests around the St Lucia estuary are similarly being phased out, again, in a responsible manner which will enhance benefits to local communities. These programmes provide, we believe, practical demonstration of government's commitment to sustainable people-centred development.
In the commercial forests, the restructuring has already resulted in significant community benefits . The Eastern Cape North forest package which was handed over to the Singisi Forests Products Company has in it as a shareholder the Singalanga Trust ,a black owned organisation and a rural entity .This is a first for a company in South Africa that grows and processes timber.
The successful handing over of forests in KwaZulu-Natal to the SiyaQhubeka Consortium is another successful endeavour in which black empowerment in the forestry industry is taking place.