Water Crisis: Mokonyane misleading South Africa to buy more time in releasing reports

In response to the DA’s seven day deadline to release the Blue and Green drop reports, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, and her spokesperson, have again contradicted themselves, and in doing so, possibly misled South Africa.  

In a series of replies to DA questions in Parliament, Minister Mokonyane confirmed that the Blue and Green Drop reports are indeed complete. However, the Minister’s spokesperson, Mr Mlimandlela Ndamase, now claims (see media report) that the Department is still in the process of ensuring all information within the reports is “complete”. 

The Blue Drop Programme measures water treatment plants and the quality of drinking water and the Green Drop Programme assesses the quality of wastewater treatment works. These reports are crucial for identifying systems that fail to provide communities with clean and safe water. As South Africa braces for an unparalleled water crisis, these reports are essential to understanding the state of our water infrastructure nationwide. 

The DA therefore calls on Minister Mokonyane to stop her double-speak and stalling in this regard. She must table the reports in Parliament by Friday. Failing which, the DA will compel her to make these reports public by way of a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application. 

Minister Mokonyane has on four different occasions told Parliament that these reports are complete:

- Minister Mokonyane first told Parliament these reports would be completed by June which evidently didn’t happen. Following which she asked for an extension;

- The Minister then told Parliament that she would have the reports completed by the 30th of September 2015;

- She then appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation on 28 October 2015 and categorically stated that the reports were complete but were being reviewed by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). This irrelevant considering that the Association has no jurisdiction over these reports and whatever comments it makes have no bearing on the final reports;

- Finally, in Parliament 04 November 2015 she reasserted these spurious grounds for referring the reports to SALGA but confirming that these reports were nonetheless complete.

It is therefore inexplicable that she, through her spokesperson, now claims that these reports are not complete. In so doing the Minister and her department could have possibly misled Parliament and the nation.

It is high time that the Minister stop her delaying tactics. South Africans deserve answers on the state of water provision in South Africa. The DA will not rest until we get them.  

Issued by Leon Basson, DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Water and Sanitation, 9 November 2015