Water master plan: Sort out mismanagement first, says AfriForum

29 November 2019  

AfriForum believes that Lindiwe Sisulu, minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, should first and foremost tackle the mismanagement problems inside the department and create a culture of accountability, before implementing the water master plan they announced yesterday.

Although AfriForum welcomes the announcement that restructuring will be done in the department, the civil rights organisation is concerned that it won’t take place on merit and that potential corrupt officials will continue to be in charge.

“According to Sisulu, the master plan will cost approximately R900 billion. The latest report by the auditor-general however indicates that the department had lost close to R1,7 billion as a result of irregular and wasteful expenditure on water infrastructure projects.The department is failing in its duty to maintain water infrastructure and is not tackling problems leading to massive water wastage, such as water leakages and pollution,” says Lambert de Klerk, head of Environmental Affairs at AfriForum. 

De Klerk also says that if the department truly considers water as a critical resource, it should act seriously and decisively against municipalities that are disregarding this resource.

AfriForum introduced its blue and green drop report in August, and on 6 November 2019 already requested a meeting with Sisulu to discuss the report and other pressing water-related issues.

Issued by Lambert de Klerk, Head: Environmental Affairs, AfriForum, 29 November 2019