Pretoria - A ground-breaking strategic partnership between the Department of Provincial and Local Government and the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHI) has led to critical interventions in a number of municipalities in the country.
Speaking in Pretoria on Thursday, Department of Provincial and Local Government Minister Sicelo Shiceka said the high-powered team, including government, business and civil society, was put together to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation in the country.
In response to various problems in relation to the quality of drinking water and sanitation, the department and AHI, in December last year sent multi-disciplinary teams to the Koukamma Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, Greater Marble Hall Local Municipality in Limpopo and Emfuleni Local Municipality in Gauteng.
The teams were tasked with first determining the extent of the problems and then putting immediate mechanisms to resolve them.
In addition to the crisis brought about by water and sanitation problems, the scope of the problems common in all these municipalities included limited general management and financial management capacity, absence of technical skills and aged infrastructure.
Minister Shiceka said the three municipalities were the first in a long list of municipalities in the country which are to be attended to by the department in a similar manner through this partnership.
However, their issues were deemed critical when they were brought to the attention of the department.
The department is in the process of developing a socio-economic profiling of all the 283 municipalities in the country which will give a holistic view of the full capacity, backlogs and critical areas requiring attention in each municipality.
The intervention teams working in these municipalities include the department, local business, provincial government, AHI, engineering companies and local community representation.
"A partnership of this nature between government and the private sector is a clear indication of government's seriousness about solving challenges of this nature, and similar problems working with all sectors of civil society including business," said the minister.
Problems observed in Koukamma included raw sewerage spillage from blocked sewers, inoperable pump stations and unserviceable treatment plants which led to sewerage spilling into the river systems and dams that supply potable water in the region.
In order to turn the situation around the team's estimate that an amount in the region of R11 million would need to be raised.
The department said in the Greater Marble Hall, the team found similar problems related to drinking quality water and water treatment works as a result of dilapidated infrastructure.
Emfuleni Municipality also faced sewage spillages emanating from the Rietspruit and Leeuwkuil Wastewater Treatment Plants into the Rietspruit and Vaal River systems, which led to complaints by the local community.
President of AHI, a multi-sectoral employer organization involved in all sectors of the economy except primary agriculture, Venete Klein said her organisation was planning to invite more major companies to participate in this process which mainly seeks to improve the lives of people in South Africa.
She said AHI has committed to working cooperatively with government, business and civil society to resolve challenges experienced by municipalities in the country and protect the health of South Africans.
Ms Klein and Minister Shiceka have also commended Gauteng Provincial Government for decisively resolving problems faced by Emfuleni Municipality.
