No, Chair, I might do so later.
The NDP further clarifies this vision of the importance of water in ensuring inclusive economic growth, poverty reduction and a significant reduction of inequality in South Africa. Colleagues, in keeping with the triple challenge of inequality, poverty and unemployment engulfing South Africa today, our task is bigger than we had imagined.
With this budget we hit the road running. It is expected of us to pass it, to get on with our oversight role and to promote public discourse on the role of water in our society. Agriculture, forestry, beer producers, mining houses, energy producers, tourists, manufacturers, aquaculture, local government, golf players and rural and urban dwellers are all watching us and the steps we shall be taking as we move forward with this Budget Vote.
Maintenance, research, planning and innovation become critical in achieving our set targets. Our growing economy and social development are giving rise to increasing demands for water. Data collation and the interpretation of such data is critical to water management. Without accurate information, the correct picture of the water situation in our country cannot be determined and policy could be compromised. Making water sexy among the youth becomes important in this regard. It requires creativity within Water and Sanitation for this sexiness to be realised. Training in the areas of engineering, economics and finance is vital in this regard.
Hon Minister, section 68 of the Water Services Act provides for the Minister of Water Affairs to establish and maintain a national information system to record and provide data on the development, implementation and monitoring of policy on water services, and to provide information to water service institutions, consumers and the public. All of this is done, mindful of the challenges confronting South Africa, Africa and the world with respect to worldwide changes in climate patterns. Water remains a primary area through which the impact of climate change is felt. Our own NDP goes further in identifying our country not only as a contributor of greenhouse gas emissions but also as being vulnerable to the effects of climate change on health, water and food, with serious impacts on women and children. In this regard, it is critical that we identify and champion mitigation and adaptation in the area of water. Where there is a potential crisis, we must always identify a potential opportunity. Indeed, through research and development South Africa and Africa can be a water-smart country and continent.
Through the Independent Power Producer programme, we have started a process of establishing hydropower stations. The Conference of the Parties, COP 20, must indeed produce tangible results that will take our world climate change negotiations closer to achieving the 1,5C target.
Fellow South Africans, the government has projected a R670 billion spend in water infrastructure for the next 10 years. Partnerships between the public and private sectors will be the only way towards achieving this target, both in terms of monetary and technical participation.
From where we are seated, of critical importance must be public participation, both at national and at other levels of government. A resolution we took in our committee report, among other resolutions, is to engage with the Departments of Public Works and of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta. At this hour of destiny, we need to keep our institutional memory within our institutions. Consultants can therefore not be a solution, but they only augment what government must do through a capable Department of Public Works.
Implementers, as you roll out these infrastructure projects, the training of locals must ultimately lead to the employment of those who are to be trained in the localities. Equally important in these processes must be the promotion of black businesses.
Minister, tariff standardisation has become more urgent in the light of disproportionate billing by respective municipalities. It is about time we distinguished between the roles of a trader and a regulator in the water sector of our economy.
Fellow South Africans, water, like any other precious material in South Africa, has to be preserved. Every drop counts. Like any mineral, it must be preserved for generation upon generation to come. Water is life. Waking up in the morning, you must bathe, brush your teeth, have a beverage, cook and take medication, among other tasks.
In conclusion, with the recent proclamation of the new Department of Water and Sanitation, we look forward to the incorporation of Sanitation in the next 2015-16 Budget. Minister, we also look forward to the achievement of targets, as set out in your annual performance plans. The filling of vacancies that are strategic must be done as a matter of urgent priority by team Water South Africa. Once again, the ANC endorses Budget Vote 38 of 2014, with the estimated spend at R12,5 billion. I thank you. [Applause.]