Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu has declared that he would create a Steering Committee to supervise and ensure a sustainable management of water and sanitation services in North West province.
Under the Steering Committee, which will be co-chaired by Mchunu and North West Premier Bushy Maape, a Technical Task Team consisting of expert engineers from Water and Sanitation, Magalies Water Board, and all districts and local municipalities would be constituted, according to Mchunu.
The Technical Task Team will perform the technical evaluation, planning, and execution of the province’s water and sanitation requirements.
“The technical structure will be represented by technical individuals, such as engineers because this is a purely technical committee that will be responsible for assessing every municipality, looking at available resources, analysing existing water schemes, those projects that are complete and incomplete, and all causes of stress on water in the province, and come up with solutions.
“This task team should be able to provide us with a detailed plan of what needs to be done, costs and contributions by each municipality, at a local and district level, and the Board as well as the department in order to restore water in areas where there are challenges,” Mchunu said.
Mchunu stated that he is certain that the development of these entities would generate beneficial results in tackling the water issues that plague the majority of the province’s towns.
Mchunu visited Maquassi Hills and the Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipalities on 19-20 January 2023, accompanied by Deputy Minister Dikeledi Magadzi, to inspect the situation of water and sanitation in the two municipalities.
The Minister was also provided with an update on the water supply interventions performed with the department’s Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG).
To guarantee synergy and sustainable supply of water and sanitation services in the province, he emphasised the necessity for joint planning and execution of action plans by all stakeholders.
Mchunu stated that the “mentality of working in silos” is one of the reasons why government operations cannot satisfy the requirements and desires of the people.
Mchunu acknowledged that there are major water concerns in the North West, but contended that they are not insurmountable.
“They are not such a big issue that they may make us put our hands on our heads and wonder how we are going to fix it, rather it needs is a collective approach. We therefore, are going to fix this ourselves as national, provincial and local government, as well as the role-players in this water sector,” Mchunu said.
In the first week of February 2023, the Technical Task Team is anticipated to report on the compressive plan to the Steering Committee, where it will give recommendations on what must be done to provide a stable water supply across the whole province.
During his Ministerial working session in the province in February of last year, Mchunu visited one of his signature projects, Dinokana in Ramotshere Moiloa Municipality.
Through the Rural Water Supply Project, the department is now intervening in the municipality to ensure that communities have access to water.