Government’s lack of proper water management the main reason for disaster
14 March 2018
The civil rights organisation AfriForum believes Government’s own negligence and incompetence are largely responsible for South Africa’s water problems, and not climatic factors as is currently being conveyed. This follows after Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, yesterday declared the ongoing drought as a national disaster.
Dr Eugene Brink, Strategic Adviser at AfriForum, says not only is Government years behind schedule regarding the construction of dams, but that too much water is also being lost due to the lack of maintenance. “Government’s transformation policy has led to essential technical and managerial skills in state departments concerned with water being lost. Approximately 37% of South Africa’s drinkable water is currently being wasted due to, among others, water leakages.”
Persons with the required skills must be appointed on merit to tackle these problems. “The entire country’s social welfare and stability is at stake when it comes to water, and political games can simply not be played in this regard. Government had to make provision for a growing population’s water needs, yet the country is losing massive amounts of water and planned new dams are not being built.”
According to Brink, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is the picture of poor management. In 2016/2017, the DWS incurred R715 million of irregular and more than R400 million of unauthorised expenditure. “Tender corruption is the order of the day and it most definitely has an impact on water supply.”