By Simon Nare
Non-payment for water services, lack of effective reticulation, declining infrastructure and capacity challenges at the local government level were some of the issues discussed during the Water Task Team convened by Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
The meeting, hot on the heels of a two-day Water and Sanitation Indaba, was held at Union Buildings in Pretoria and received presentations from the departments of Water and Sanitation, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA, Human Settlements and Infrastructure.
The Presidency in a statement issued after Tuesday’s meeting that the gathering meeting also received inputs from President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mashatile, ministers as well as representatives from water boards, management agencies, traditional leaders, civil society, sector experts and SA Local Government Association.
The task team is made up of ministers responsible for the departments of water and sanitation, COGTA, finance, human settlements, public works and infrastructure, agriculture, police, electricity as well as land reform and rural development.
“Issues discussed included measures and interventions by the departments to work towards resolving the challenges of water and reticulation. In particular, the meeting noted issues such as the non-payment for water services, lack of effective reticulation, declining infrastructure and capacity challenges at the local government level,” said The Presidency.
It said the meeting then agreed to intervene within the prescripts of existing legislation and that all budgetary allocations for water in various departments must be pooled together to ensure effectiveness.
An update was also received on ongoing work under the Strategic Integrated Projects initiative by government to create water retention facilities and enhance water treatment plants.
“The Water Task Team also resolved after discussions to accelerate the formalisation of informal settlements, which will assist with the provision of services to residents. This applies to 4076 illegal settlements who use illegal means to connect to water.
“Furthermore, it was agreed that all incomplete water projects must be completed and to that effect the meeting requested departments to review their turn-around times on water projects,” it said.
The workstreams proposed for effective collaboration are:
- Workstream 1 – Responses to water supply disruptions in prioritised areas,
- Workstream 2 – National and municipal water institutional reforms,
- Workstream 3 – Accelerating private investment in municipal water services (through the Partnership Office),
- Workstream 4 – Improving municipal sanitation services and management of wastewater,
- Workstream 5 – Improving turn-around time in regulation and funding,
- Workstream 6 – Institutional reforms (led by CoGTA), Salga, Department of Water and Sanitation), and
- Workstream 7 – Communication.
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