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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 897
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 01 AUGUST 2014
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 7)
897. Ms T E Baker (DA) to ask the Minister of Water and Sanitation:
(1) How many vacancies are there at the 986 waste water treatment
plants that are located in each province;
(2) has a skills audit been conducted to assess the qualifications
of all levels of staff employed at these waste water treatment
plants; if not, why not; if so, (a) what were the findings of
the audit and (b) what steps have been taken to capacitate the
existing staff who do not meet the basic qualification
requirements;
(3)(a) what is the estimated number of process controllers
required to effectively operate the micro, small and medium
waste water treatment plants in South Africa, (b) how many
process controllers are currently employed and (c) what plans
are in place to address any shortfall that may exist?
NW987E
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REPLY:
1) The 986 Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) located in each province
are managed by the Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs (Cogta) who are in a better position to respond to
the number of vacancies within each WWTP.
(2)(a) The assessment of process controllers and maintenance
personnel supporting a WWTW is part of the assessment criteria
during the Green Drop (GD) Certification audits. From the
previous GD audits, it was apparent that supervisory personnel
require a Class V and process controllers are still a challenge
whilst maintenance personnel are normally outsourced during
process failures.
(2)(b) The Department and the Local Government Sector Education
and Training Authority (LGSETA) implemented a programme to train
municipal employees working in water and waste water treatment
works between 2010 and 2012. The focus was on process
controllers at National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 2 -
4. The overall purpose of the project was to ensure that water
and wastewater treatment works are able to meet the regulatory
requirements for operational compliance within the medium term.
The table below includes all learners who were enrolled for
Water and Waste Water Learnerships, water and waste water skills
programme (short course), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
and the assessor and coaching skills programmes (short courses).
| |
|Enrolment Figures per Province |
|Province |
|Total enrolment |
| |
|Gauteng |
|237 |
| |
|Free State |
|250 |
| |
|Northern Cape |
|248 |
| |
|Eastern Cape |
|252 |
| |
|KZN |
|146 |
| |
|Limpopo |
|250 |
| |
|Mpumalanga |
|270 |
| |
|North West |
|232 |
| |
|Western cape |
|239 |
| |
|Totals |
|2124 |
| |
In addition:
LGSETA Intervention 2014/15
The LGSETA has appointed a training provider in March 2014 to
implement another phase of the same programme in all (9) provinces
targeting a total of 1980 process controllers.
Training has already started in most provinces and the Department of
Water and Sanitation is part of the National Project Steering
Committee (NPSC) of this particular project.
(3) The estimated number of process controllers required to
effectively operate a waste water treatment plant depends on the
size as well as the technology used within the treatment plant
as classified in the regulatory requirements. The following are
the estimated numbers:
⢠Class A (Highly Technical) requires 8 process controllers
including supervisor who must be available at all times;
⢠Class B (Highly technical) requires 7 process controllers
including supervisor who must be available at all times;
⢠Class C (Moderate Technical) requires 6 process
controllers including supervisor who must be available to
do weekly inspection;
⢠Class D (Moderate Technical) requires 4 process
controllers including supervisor who must be available to
do weekly inspection;
⢠Class E (Lower technology) requires 3 process controllers
including supervisor who must be available to do weekly
inspection.
Additional information on this matter should be requested from
Cogta to address all the 9 Regions.
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