I fully support the recent initiative by Dr Saleem Badat, Vice Chancellor at Rhodes University, to convene a public forum to debate the ongoing water and sanitation crisis in the greater Makana area.
I fully support the recent initiative by Dr Saleem Badat, Vice Chancellor at Rhodes University, to convene a public forum to debate the ongoing water and sanitation crisis in the greater Makana area.
Makana Municipality serves the towns of Grahamstown, Alicedale, Riebeeck East, Fort Brown, Salem, Seven Fountains, Sidbury and many other small towns and villages in the surrounding rural areas, residents of which do not have easy access to public forums such as this newspaper to raise their serious concerns.
Such debates are to be encouraged across South Africa, especially where the quality of drinking water and management of waste is questionable.
The panel of water experts and the participation by academics
and science students at Rhodes proved to be very helpful in moving the water debate forward.
During the meeting, it emerged that the quality of clean drinking water in our municipal area appears to have been compromised by the lack of skilled, experienced and qualified personnel; old water and sewer reticulation infrastructure; and inadequate planning.
Apparently, these problems were identified almost four years ago by local environmental groups and students who conducted independent scientific research into the quality of the water in the area.
During the recent forum, we also got to hear about another study conducted in 2004 by Rhodes University that concluded that the water sites in the municipality were “poor or fair”, and the toxicity of out-flowing effluent from the Grahamstown sewage treatment works, was “relatively high”.
Their recommendations focused on risk assessment, communication, effective data management and decision-making links.
So it appears that the municipality has known about the contamination of the water for some time.
What was abundantly clear to me as I listened to the speakers at the forum is that it was now imperative that the municipality work hand-inhand with the academics and organised civil society institutions to find a viable and urgent solution to the water crisis.
Failure to do so will perpetuate the current perceptions and concerns that the quality of the piped water in the Makana municipality is not safe for human consumption.
I believe the municipality’s recent acknowledgement that they don’t have the required technical capacity to manage our water resources, is an unacceptable excuse.
We were told at the forum that an expert in the development of water and sewer reticulation systems applied for a post in the city engineer’s department but was not considered, allegedly because of political inter ference.
While we cannot comment on the truth of this particular allegation, I am concerned hat political considerations too often outweigh the fundamental rights of our citizens.
I remember that as far back as June 2008, during the Parliamentary Public Hearings on water quality and water challenges, the then Mayor Pumelelo Kate gave some background on the water situation in Makana Municipality.
He claimed then that the municipality had submitted reports to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, and that the municiaplity had also conducted internal testing on the E.
coli counts. He was also warned about the effects of limited resources and expertise, saying that the various municipalities were in competition with each other to attract scarce skills.
He also insisted the municipality had followed the correct procedures and would try to ensure institutional and social facilitation as well as health and hygiene awareness in the various communities.
Despite this awareness of the water crisis, there appears to be no genuine evidence in the integrated development plans, documents and budgets of the last three financial periods, that the municipality has produced an adequate plan to deal with the water resource and water treatment problems.
Yet, national legislation, specifically the Water Services Act of 1997 obligates all municipalities to develop a Water Services Development Plan (WSDP) which requires a public participation process.
Among the list of requirements in the act, is that a WSDP must provide information on what water and sanitation services exist;
indicate the areas where residents do not have basic water services; list the number and location of those people not provided with basic water and sanitation services; and report any negative health and environmental impacts of this lack of service.
The act also requires the municipality to provide a clear strategy to ensure access to at least a basic level of service within a period of five years as well as a financial management strategy, including funding sources, to ensure that the proposed programmes are feasible and affordable.
It certainly appears that the priorities of the municipality are skewed, with a hefty administration consuming more than 60% of the municipal budget.
Added to this, the controversial payment of performance bonuses at a cost of approximately R120 000 to the so-called top five directors in the 2007/2008 financial year.
There are critical questions that must be asked and answered swiftly by those that run this municipality. The first question is how can a performance bonus be justified to a director who cannot ensure that clean and disease-free drinking water is available to citizens?
And how are increases justified if councillors cannot perform their oversight responsibilities? Regardless of political and ideological differences, councillors must be challenged to assist with proactive problemsolving strategies.
Municipal officials and councillors must also understand that people have a constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and wellbeing as well as the right to have access to sufficient food and water.
People are also within their right to object and intervene when the dangers of poorly treated water are not attended to properly.
Although it was certainly a step in the right direction when the municipality issued a statement on the quality of the water a few weeks ago, it was disappointingly thin on detail and completely silent on the way forward.
At the Black Sash, we support the Vice Chancellor’s suggestion that the municipality should, as a matter of urgency, collaborate with the university to find long-lasting solutions to the water problems in the Makana area.
I would also propose that the vice chancellor, organised civil society and the mayor meet soon to discuss the formulation of a comprehensive and sustainable Water Services Development Plan.
Specifically, the municipality, with the support of the university, should consider commissioning a study of the town’s aging water and sewer reticulation system.
With proper motivation, I am confident funding can be sourced from the National Treasury, and development agencies. And finally, I would recommend that a skills audit be conducted across those municipal departments and other public entities responsible for the treatment of water.
This would help identify the skills gap and hopefully ensure that people with the right qualifications, skills and experience are employed by the municipality to look after the water which is after all, an essential right and fundamentally important for any quality of life.
Jonathan Walton is the Black Sash Provincial Advocacy Manager for the Eastern Cape
