Urgent review of Rural Household Infrastructure Grant required to tackle waste

Reports today indicate that government is spending R8000 each time a new pit latrine is built for rural households, rather than the R700 it costs to empty existing pits. This expensive duplication of resources is happening because the terms of the Rural Household Infrastructure Grant (RHIG) stipulate that the grant must be used in the construction of new toilets (see Business Day report).

An estimated 1.2 million households have recently received latrines that must now be emptied to keep them in use. An additional R8.76 billion will have to be spent if the government chooses to build new latrines instead of simply maintaining the existing ones. This could be avoided if the terms of the RHIG were changed to include maintenance.

I will today be writing to the Chairperson of the Human Settlements Portfolio , Mrs Beauty Nomhle Dambuza, to request that the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, be summoned to Parliament to explain what barriers, if any, there are to reviewing the terms of the RHIG to include maintenance of existing infrastructure.

This is a matter of real importance and urgency. Not only do the terms of the RHIG encourage wasteful expenditure, but solid waste builds up on people's plots as a result of existing latrines not being maintained.

It is the responsibility of municipalities to empty the pits of existing latrines every five to eight years. This is part of their service plan for the provision of decent sanitation, but many municipalities are under-capacitated and lack the necessary funds to provide this service.

The RHIG is earmarked for the eradication of rural sanitation backlogs targeted at existing households without access to water and sanitation. Surely the conditions of the grant should include emptying the latrines of existing households. This clearly falls within the principled provisions of the grants.

To ensure the maximum benefits of grants aimed at improving the lives of South Africans, government should be working towards cost-effective service delivery. Proper budgeting and spending priorities are instrumental in insuring that people receive quality services and that public funds are spent wisely to ensure widespread delivery for all.

Statement issued by Stevens Mokgalapa MP, DA Shadow Minister of Human Settlements, April 10 2012

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