South Africa: Deputy President Mashatile convenes the Water Task Team
The meeting took place following a successful Water and Sanitation two-day Indaba hosted by the Department of Water and Sanitation, which received inputs from President Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President Mashatile, Ministers as well as Representatives of Water Boards, Management Agencies, SALGA, Traditional Leaders, Civil Society and sector experts.
Today's meeting received presentations from the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements and Infrastructure South Africa.
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.
The meeting then agreed to intervene within the prescripts of existing legislation, also directing that all budgetary allocations for water in various departments 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 as well as enhancement of water treatment plants.
The Water Task Team also resolved after discussion to accelerate the formalisation of informal settlements, which will assist with the provision of services to residents. This applies to 4 076 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.
The meeting then proposed a structured mechanism for effective coordination in the form of the following workstreams:
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, DWS&Human Settlements, and
Workstream 7 – Communication.
Deputy President Mashatile commended the work and interventions of the various departments in the area of water supply and preservation.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.
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