Deputy Chairperson, 56 years ago the people of South Africa gathered in Kliptown and adopted the Freedom Charter. Allow me then to quote from the Freedom Charter:
The land shall be shared amongst those who work it!
The state shall help the peasants with implements, seeds, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers.
It is against this backdrop that the ANC-led government adopted the South African Constitution with the Bill of Rights, in particular clause 27(1), which says: (1) Everyone has the right to ... - (a) health care ... (b) ... food and water; and (c) social security ...
And -
(2) The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights.
I am therefore humbled to debate under the theme "Advancing national water resource management for sustainable water supply to our people".
Water is one of the basic rights that a human being must access. South Africa faces a number of critical environmental challenges, ranging from land degradation to the obliteration of finite resources, but it is the problem of acid mine drainage that may be its most perilous hazard in terms of the ramifications.
South Africa is a country beset by a water security dilemma, whilst on the economic front the country is driven by a strong mining industry. These two trends have become more precariously positioned in relation to one another over the past decade as a result of the spewing of highly acidic water into the country's water system, endangering communities, as well as ecosystems, along the Vaal River in Gauteng and the Limpopo River.
What is putting undue stress on Gauteng province and the economy is the strained water environment that potentially undermines the agricultural and industrial sectors.
Sewage is currently threatening the World Heritage Site located in the region known as the Cradle of Humankind. The polluted water that originates from the abandoned mines is threatening residential communities residing in the vicinity, especially along the Vaal, West Rand, Ekurhuleni and Limpopo Rivers.
The ANC-led government has inherited this problem, as South Africa's gold mining industry commenced in the 1880s. The problem is due to the historical inability of the previous regime to hold the mining industry to account through the polluter-pays principle.
Due to the high costs involved, no one is willing to shoulder the burden. This then calls for a review of our policies, particularly those of the Departments of Mineral Resources and of Water and Environmental Affairs, to include the polluter-pays principle in the licences and ensure companies pay retrospectively.
The government cannot be left to bear the brunt of rehabilitating the environment and caring for the sick. We welcome the Cabinet decision to approve the plan to combat acid water drainage from the mines. The scary part of the research report is the one which cites that approximately 80% of South Africa's water will be undrinkable by 2015 as a result of severe pollution. So, the sooner we integrate policies to preserve water and water management, the better.
When I was young, I once heard that the next world war would be about water. At that time, it was just Greek to me, but now I see the reality is worse as we are experiencing the effects of global warming and climate change in different parts of our country. [Interjections.] Hon Deputy Chairperson, they are disturbing me.