Heavy rains and floods affect us in December, January, February and March, and lead to rivers overflowing. This causes floods in low-lying areas and dams being filled to capacity. When we open the gate sluices, the low-lying areas are flooded.
The absence of catchment areas allows this water to damage infrastructure, kill people and be wasted. Therefore, there is an urgent need for interventions, by building infrastructure for catchments, reservoirs and preserving water. This calls for an integrated strategy from Rural Development and Land Reform, Water and Environmental Affairs, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mineral Resources and Human Settlements.
In Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga, we have rivers and dams which cannot be used by communities and municipalities to access water because of privatisation, water rights and water contamination.
In the North West, around the Hartebeespoort Dam, residents are currently withholding rates, alleging that the water is dirty. Communities and industries pollute water by throwing everything into it because of a lack of education and an understanding of how precious water is and what threats the country faces. There is a need to look into increasing the number of dams to contain the overflow from the rivers and existing dams.
These rivers and dams are not linked to irrigation schemes, agriculture or home use, but to individuals who use them for private purposes such as leisure and boating, whilst poor communities in rural areas and informal settlements suffer. Examples of this are the Vaal River in Gauteng, Loskop Dam, Badplaas, Jericho Dam in Mpumalanga and many more.
Access to water is a basic right that the government, communities, NGOs and businesses must fight for side by side. It is in this decade that the commitment enshrined in the South African Constitution has to be realised.
We are just fresh from the census which is going to tell us about the total population per province and then respond to the gaps identified accordingly by having short-, medium- and long-term interventions. I would like to commend the municipalities that have prioritised the supply of water to communities such as Johannesburg Metro, etc. However, a national strategy on water use and management has to be put in place to ensure that communities in the dry areas also benefit.
Lessons have to be learnt from Lesotho with its Lesotho Highlands supplying areas as far away as Gauteng. Legislation has been put in place by the ANC- led government to transform water policy, water law and water resources management between 1997 and 2011. There is a dire need to increase the pace of implementation, enforcement, monitoring and evaluation.
The government has given people seeds, tractors, spades and land for agriculture, but the main issue is access to water for irrigation, even for those people who are on the banks of the rivers.
In conclusion, let me make a call to all businesspeople, farm owners, current mining houses, former owners of mining houses and all those who hold water rights, to work together with the government, municipalities and communities to find a way of addressing this timebomb.
If we love this beautiful country, this rainbow nation, we can be more patriotic and do the right thing. I thank you. Malibongwe! [Praise!] [Applause.]