Lerato Mbhiza
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says Cabinet has established a water task team to be chaired by Deputy President Paul Mashatile to deal with supply challenges facing the country.
Ntshavheni was briefing the media on the outcome of the Cabinet meeting and said factors including ageing municipal infrastructure are hindering efficient supply of the precious resource to communities.
“Cabinet was updated about the progress with the Lesotho Highlands Phase 2 and Umkhomazi Water projects to build water supply resilience, while the Department of Water and Sanitation is working with affected cities on the improvement and renewal of the aged water infrastructure to minimise water loss.
“This task team will be constituted by the Department of Water and Sanitation, Cogta, Human Settlements, Public Works and Infrastructure, Agriculture and Land Reform and Rural Development and the SAPS.”
This comes after many residences in Johannesburg are facing water shortage.
Reports say a potential water supply crisis is looming for Gauteng metros as Rand Water’s supply system is “on the verge of collapse,” with water storage for the bulk supplier sitting at below 30%.
Ntshavheni said the threat of inadequate water supply has crippled provinces including Gauteng, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, forcing the country to turn to neighbouring nations to meet its water supply demands.
In order to mitigate the myriad of challenges to Limpopo’s water security, the Water and Sanitation Department has signed an agreement for the transfer of treated water from Zimbabwe to Musina.
“Cabinet was updated about the signing of an agreement between South Africa and Zimbabwe to transfer 41 megalitres of water per day, work to construct a 20 km pipeline and pump station to ensure the transfer of this water will commence shortly.”
She added the government welcomed the order by the Special Tribunal for the software company SAP to pay R500 million to the SIU.
According to the SIU, the settlement stems from an agreement on the validity of two Eskom contracts awarded to SAP between 2013 and 2016.
“Eskom and SAP entered into two contracts, the Enabling Agreement and the Cloud Services Agreement, worth approximately R1.1 billion. The Special Tribunal order has also declared that the two contracts are constitutionally invalid and therefore set aside.
“The order of the Special Tribunal is part of the implementation of the SIU investigation outcomes and consequence management to recover financial losses suffered by State institutions due to negligence or corruption. The settlement agreement does not absolve SAP or any implicated party from possible prosecution,” the SIU said.
The corruption-busting unit explained that an investigation into Eskom found that the contracts were entered into illegally.
“Thereafter, SAP entered into a Sale Commission Agreement with CAD House CC, a Gupta-linked company. Furthermore, Eskom and SAP signed an agreement for Cloud services at a contract value of R21 712 514.82. Following payments from Eskom to SAP, CAD House received funds from SAP.
“SIU findings revealed that the Enabling Agreement and the Cloud Services Agreement did not comply with the Public Finance Management Act, which resulted in Eskom incurring fruitless and wasteful expenditures in respect of the agreements.
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