MINISTER RONNIE KASRILS
PARLIAMENTARY MEDIA BRIEFING
19 SEPTEMBER 2000
INTRODUCTION The week when Amagluglug triumphed over Brazil has also seen some successes in Water and Forestry.
As announced last week, the first part of our forestry restructuring has been successfully concluded and excellent prices were obtained, after tough negotiation. Certain critical sites have been removed for conservation and tourism purposes and tenders are already out for their development. These developments should now answer pessimistic comments that The National Water Act's controls on Forestry would render the forestry business unviable.
In this regard, if there was any doubt about the revolutionary importance of our water policy, I can simply mention that a senior delegation from the People's Republic of China led by a Vice Minister, is in the country to study our approach to Water Management and law reform.
The President's announcement at COSATU's conference yesterday that the basic water supply of 6000 litres per household per month would be provided free to the poor is a vital milestone. Clarity on this issue will allow us to achieve sustainability with equity bearing in mind that higher levels of consumption will have to be paid for.
Meanwhile, the Department's community water supply programme has now reached six million people; government's overall total is closer to ten million given improved water services provided by our housing programme. That is delivery.
At my press briefing just over one year ago, I outlined the steps I had taken to fulfil my responsibilities in a very new terrain. The challenges remain stimulating as well as formidable and complex.
In the areas that constitute the core business of the department - namely Water and Forestry Resource Management - a great deal of progress has been made. However, our immediate focus remains the provision of basic water services. Stated differently, the department is involved in poverty alleviation and helping to create a better life for all South Africans.
COMMUNITY WATER DELIVERY An audit, which was done after I took over this portfolio, showed that the department's community water supply programme had served 5.6 million rural South Africans with water and that there are still (with the natural population increase), over 8 million people in rural areas who do not yet have access to clean water. The government, through the Department of Housing, has improved the water and sanitation services to approximately 4-million urban people. Despite this notable achievement I pointed out in my budget speech in June, my concern that, if we continue at the present rate, it could take us up to 20 years to reach our goals with regard to the rural population.
Today I can report that since April an additional 350 000 people have been served bringing the delivery figure up to the 6-million mark. This at a cost of R3,7-billion. This means that within six years, the department has provided half of the 12-million people the government set out to reach in 1994 with safe drinking water.
Also, in the process 341 434 temporary jobs, including 180 000 jobs for women, were created in the laying of pipes and other infrastructural development linked to water services in the rural areas.
However, as I have already pointed out, with the population increase, the government would possibly need to make water available to eight rather than six million people. And, at the present expenditure rate, it will not take us another seven but rather 20 years to deliver safe water to all South Africans. One of the reasons for this is that the previous estimates for delivery time were based on an expenditure of R1-billion annually in 1997/98. The reality is that in the current financial year only R500-million has been available for delivery of basic water. Although it seems that R700-million can be made available in the next financial year that is still far short of R1-billion.
This infrastructure development process - putting pipes into the ground - is progressing well albeit it not as fast as we would have preferred. It is important to remember that putting pipes into the ground is just the beginning. The real challenge is keeping the water flowing from the taps. This brings me to the critical issue of sustainability and local government's role.
ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT In terms of the Constitution, local government is responsible for the provision of water services. My department ensures that bulk water is collected, stored, purified, conserved, distributed and protected. A lack of capacity (such as efficient accounting systems, and effectively managing, operating and maintaining a water scheme) and inadequate funding at local level has resulted in taps sometimes running dry. In order to improve performance, the newly elected local government structures must be trained and empowered.
The department has geared itself to provide a co-ordinated water services support programme to local government. In terms of this programme, local government is being assisted to operate water services development plans.
The Water Services Act provides a framework within which local governments can choose service providers such as public or private companies best able to meet the needs of their communities. The department is assisting in this by producing model contracts as well as regulations to ensure that local government gets what it needs where it chooses to use the services of other organisations, public and private.
Because water supply is such a critical issue in poor communities which might not be attractive to private service providers, we are developing our Water Boards around the country as a family of public water service providers to help meet this need, not simply to supply bulk water to large industrial and urban consumers.
In addition, water users must be educated on how to manage, monitor and maintain their water systems. And this can only be achieved by close consultation with the community from the beginning.
PROBLEMS AT LOCAL LEVEL The importance of local government cannot be over-emphasised in the sustainable provision of water and there is a pressing need to iron-out various problems. In the Northern Provinces, for example, traditional authorities and the local government structure are in dispute about who runs the water supply system. Unless a local government is empowered and assisted by the department such disputes will fester.
In Winterveld, in Gauteng, the local government is in debt to the Rand Water Board to the tune of R20m because consumers have not been paying for service delivery, resulting in the community being without water for three out of seven days every week at present.
The Tyger Valley local authority in Cape Town comprises both affluent and poor communities. There the lack of consensus between all sectors of the community and the local government has led to water being cut-off.
So as such examples show it is not merely an issue of water delivery through pipes but just as much about building local government institutions geared to sustainable delivery of services.
Looking at the challenge facing local government in upgrading and giving proper maintenance to existing systems, I am increasingly of the view that a programme to recapitalise new local government must be considered if the new district councils are to manage their functions adequately.
THE FOUR PILLARS OF DELIVERY In my budget speech I outlined four views of grappling with the challenges of delivery: partnerships, innovation, sustainability and affordability.
Sustainability depends critically on the capacity of local government and I believe I have covered that.
Public-Public as well as Public-Private Partnerships can be an important mechanism through which the resources of government can be reinforced so that delivery is accelerated and our people better served.
One of the latest developments around these partnerships is in Harrismith and surrounding areas. Water Boards such as Rand and Sedibeng are discussing with local government arrangements whereby the Boards will act as service providers.
INNOVATION In my budget speech earlier this year, I talked of the need for flexibility and innovation. One excellent example is the playground roundabout pump, developed by Roundabout Outdoor, which captures the energy of children. When the roundabout is turned, it causes water to be pumped upwards, filling an elevated tank. The tank is covered with advertisement billboards with a communal tap located at ground level.
The World Bank will fund the installation of 40 such pumps in the rural areas at R40,000 each. The first of these roundabout pumps was installed three weeks ago at the Khulani Primary School in Winterveld.
Lovelife - a Kaizer Foundation programme to combat HIV and AIDS - last week contacted me and pledged to fund a further 60 pumps should other donors be found to fund another 60 pumps. These pumps will directly benefit schools and clinics in rural areas. Today I want to challenge communities and businesses for R2,4-million to cover the cost of 60 pumps.
At least 50 percent of the advertising space on the billboards will be used to promote health-related information, in particular with regards to HIV and AIDS. Revenue from commercial advertisers will provide the revenue for the manufacturer and cover maintenance costs.
I have asked my department to advise me on how best this innovation can be applied to meet the needs of institutions such as schools and clinics, particularly in areas where there is, as yet, no reliable public water supply.
AFFORDABILITY Another urgent issue I want to highlight today is that of affordability and water pricing to ensure that all South Africans enjoy a basic right to life - that of the basic right to safe drinking water as guaranteed in our Constitution.
The World Water Vision presented at The Hague in March this year recommended full cost pricing of water services, assuming that the poor are in a position to pay their bills. In this respect the Vision, quite frankly, takes no recognition of the reality in developing countries, such as South Africa, with people for whom it is not a case of "will not pay" but "cannot pay".
I told the Stockholm Water Symposium in August that this full cost pricing formulation was simply unacceptable - a view shared by my colleagues in the Southern African Development Community and elsewhere in the developing world.
Our approach in South Africa should take account of the need for social justice and equity and the basic needs of the poor and vulnerable. The South African Government has given water a high priority, recognising that providing access to basic clean water supply is a direct attack on poverty as articulated by the President in his address to Cosatu yesterday.
In a city such as Durban a simple stepped tariff system provides the first 6 000 litres a month free to each household. The system is designed to recover costs from those who use more water. This is something that can work in the context where we have the possibility of urban economies of scale and the possibility of cross-subsidisation from the "better offs".
In South Africa, as in most parts of the world, the way we charge for basic water impacts little - if at all - in the way in which the bulk resource is used and impacts on the environment. What is critical for environmental conservation is how we price water for large users such as agriculture, the manufacturing industries, mines and fully plumbed households.
A study by the department into ways to make water more affordable to the poor has shown that free basic water needs can be provided if adequate cost recovery is achieved from better-served and better-off communities. Appropriate use of the local government's equitable share of revenue is also critical but in many areas this is unfortunately not being used for water supply to the poor.
The challenge for us is to find ways of funding the rural areas where the cost-sharing advantages of the cities and towns are non-existent.
We are looking into ways of addressing the needs of those for whom it is not a case of "won't pay" but rather who "cannot pay" for basic water. A cabinet sub-committee of the Ministers of Finance, Provincial and Local Government and myself have been tasked to look into the implementation of free basic water to the poor.
THE SKUIFRAAM DAM The Cape Peninsula is one of the fastest growing regions of the country. Despite intensive efforts to promote conservation, overall water demand continues to grow.
Water use in the area is now outstripping the capacity of the existing infrastructure. In order to make water available and to increase storage capacity, it is necessary to build another dam, as announced by my predecessor, Professor Kader Asmal two years ago.
After extensive study and consultation, a new dam in the Berg River, provisionally known as Skuifraam (although I am sure we will find a more appropriate name), has been identified as the most cost-effective solution.
The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has recently informed me that he has not upheld objections in terms of environmental legislation. Therefore, as I have indicated in Parliament last week, I will be meeting shortly with the Cape Metropolitan Council to discuss how to finance this project. I must emphasise that it is the Cape Town water users who will have to pay for the dam. It should also emphasise that it is unlikely that water will be available from the dam before 2005 so it is vital that water conservation programmes are stepped up in the interim.
Given the inadequate rainfall we have been experiencing in the Western Cape and following recommendations from the water user stakeholder meeting last week, I want to announce that water restrictions will be introduced as from 1 November, 2000.
The low-level restrictions will mean that up to 10 percent water saving is required by all water users in the supply area of the Berg Water Management Area and parts of the Breede Water management Area. This includes the Cape Town metropolitan area. Details on how the restrictions will be applied will be confirmed by my regional office together with the stakeholders in this area during October.
CLEAN GOVERNANCE My department is committed to effective governance and the prevention of corruption at whatever level it occurs. We have already demonstrated that we will take vigorous action whether it be at the level of an accounts clerk in a rural office or, as in Lesotho, at the level of Chief Executive of a multinational company.
Since I am responsible for oversight of the Water Boards, my Department has initiated a structured programme to overview the performance of the Boards. This performance focused system is progressing well and will, I hope, become a model for government's relationship with public corporations and agencies.
The test of any system is how it works when things go wrong. So, while I am never pleased to learn of irregularities, I should report that the system has been effective in detecting and intervening in what appears to be a serious case of attempted fraud involving the cession of public assets to the value of R1,6-billion in the Amatole Water Board in the Eastern Cape.
The chairman of the Board, Mr Sam Mkani, has advised me that as a result of preliminary investigations, the Chief Executive of the Board, Mr Philip Fourie, has been suspended pending fuller investigation. While I am sure you will understand that I cannot say more at this stage, I will be making further announcements as the investigation proceeds. I am determined to maintain the Water Boards as institutions whose sound governance enables them to mobilise the capital we need for our infrastructure investment programmes. Their potential as public sector service providers to support local government cannot be understated.
Issued by GCIS on behalf of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry