Pretoria – Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has committed her department to continue with its programme to ensure that both the housing and sanitation projects in Delmas proceed well, until there is no family that is homeless and with inferior sanitation.
Addressing the community on Saturday in the Victor Khanye local municipality during Imbizo Focus Week, Molewa noted that her department had visited the area three months ago to launch a Bulk Water Supply Project.
She said they anticipated that with the provision of adequate water supply, more development would take place.
She said the vast majority of illnesses around the world were caused by poor sanitation or bad management of water works. She said on any given day, half of the world’s hospital beds were occupied by patients suffering from illnesses associated with lack of sanitation and access to safe water.
“In South Africa, about 20 million people did not have adequate sanitation in 1994 when this government came into power. Fifteen million more did not have access to potable water. These figures have since improved drastically due to efforts we have put in place to redress the past imbalances.
“During the launch we had here in July, we acknowledged a history of water-borne diseases in Delmas, namely diarrhoea and typhoid, and painfully recalled the outbreaks of these diseases during 1993, 2005 and 2007. We also reflected on the fact that the water service area of Delmas has been prone to diarrhoea outbreaks, usually following the first rainfalls of a new summer season...
“We committed government to working towards the eradication of these challenges, and reflected on a number of steps we have taken and those we envisage to take to end these problems,” said Molewa.
Six years ago, the Department of Water Affairs made available R750 000 to improve the management capacity of the municipal potable water works.
The department has also spent close to R76 million under the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) in the Victor Khanye municipality in the past six years. Of this amount, over R57 million was spent towards the Bloemendal Bulk Project and the balance of R18 514 000 was spent on a groundwater development project, including drilling and equipping 17 boreholes.
Nearly R1.2 million has been spent on the refurbishment of Delmas Waste Water Treatment Works under the Accelerated Community infrastructure Programme (ACIP).
With the Bloemendal-Delmas Bulk Water RBIG project in particular, the level of service has been increased, including sanitation related services in the Delmas area.
“… We have indeed made Delmas water safer and opened the doors for healthier conditions for the people of Delmas,” Molewa said.
Earlier in the day, Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza handed over houses built by government and Exxaro.
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Lechesa Tsenoli, is starting a programme that will lead to the total eradication of the bucket toilets in the area. – SAnews.gov.za
