Chairperson, before I start to speak, my surname is Manganye, not Manyengeja. [Laughter.] Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members of this august House, I rise on behalf of the ANC to support this budget, Budget Vote No 38.
In 2002 South Africa hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. At this summit, former President Nelson Mandela said:
Among the many things I learnt as a President was the centrality of water in the social, political and economic affairs of the country, the continent and the world.
My input will specifically be on the sphere of local government and it is in this context that we need to assess the performance of Water Affairs in delivering on its mandate. At its 53rd National Conference in Mangaung, the ANC addressed the complex challenges that confront local government and the impact that the local government has on the functioning of the other government departments. Water delivery and infrastructure roll-out at local government level depends greatly on a local government's ability to rise to this challenge.
In Mangaung the conference also declared that there should be a differentiated local government model which should include municipalities exercising different powers and functions from a common list, with differences based on criteria such as human settlement types, spatial characteristics, economic activity, revenue base, finances and capacity.
The differentiated model of Mangaung includes a scope of integrated development plans, IDPs, funding support and capacity-building. It called for new revenue-raising powers for some municipalities, and that certain strong local municipalities should not be located in the districts.
The other major area of local government which impacts upon water provision to communities that the conference addressed was municipal financing. It is acknowledged that there are major challenges in the local government financial system. They resolved that there needs to be a major review of the local government financial system, which should include a review of the equitable share formula, and that municipalities should be able to maximise their own revenue. In addition, lowering of the costs of borrowing from the development finance institutions to municipalities should be instituted.
Importantly, it was recommended that a once-off grant to municipalities to offset the backlog in service delivery backlogs be introduced, which will greatly assist in reducing the backlog of water infrastructure.
In terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Municipal Structures Act, municipalities have the executive authority and right to administer the provision of water services within their areas of jurisdiction. Water Affairs has therefore phased out its role as an implementing agent by transferring water schemes to the relevant municipalities. In terms of the municipality infrastructure grant, the municipal water infrastructure grant, the rural household infrastructure grant, the water services regional bulk infrastructure grant, the water service operating and subsidy grant and the local government equitable share, municipalities have all tremendously accelerated water service delivery across the country.
The planned outcome of the municipal water infrastructure grant, for instance, has increased household access to water supply. This has happened through the development of new infrastructure or the refurbishing and upgrading of existing infrastructure to those communities identified as not receiving basic water supply service.
We welcome the new seamless mechanism that will ensure that when water is delivered at the resource level, the municipality also immediately reticulates so that there is no dam or such a resource that stands unused. Given this mechanism, implemented with special focus on the rural community, we want to say that gone will be the days when the community will look at the dam or pipe while deriving no benefit from it.
Water and sanitation services are financed through the water and sanitation components in the local government equitable share and capital spending on water and sanitation assets are financed through the basic services component of the municipal infrastructure grant.
Funding is supplemented by internal sources and external borrowing, with the exception of district municipalities, where less is spent on water and sanitation infrastructure than what is allocated through the water and sanitation component of the municipal infrastructure grant, MIG. This may be because the funds are being passed on to the local municipalities that are water services providers, or because the funding is being used for other municipal services.
Local government conditional grants are being reformed to provide targeted support to different types of municipalities. In 2012-13 a new direct grant for water infrastructure administered by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs enabled the department to help municipalities to deliver clean drinking water to households. Over the medium term, funds will be made available to reprioritise funds to be used to improve the sustainability of the municipal services by subsidising critical refurbishment projects and combating wastage of water. The ANC-led government has already made substantial investments in the construction of local government infrastructure, committing over R100 billion for this purpose through direct and indirect conditional grants from 2007 until today.
These transfers have made a significant difference to the lives of South Africans who did not previously have access to municipal services. We acknowledge that nationally and locally 7% in deep rural areas of the country remain without access to basic services. This is being worked on, as the Minister has already alluded to.
The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs submitted a request for R2 billion in the budget process for the 2013 medium term to accelerate the roll-out of water infrastructure and to ensure all households have access to clean water. Given the large scale of backlogs revealed by the 2011 Census, R4,3 billion was proposed for this grant in the 2013 medium term. Part of this will be funded through the reprioritisation of funds from the municipal infrastructure grant.
The ANC-led government uses capacity-building grants to fund various programmes aimed at supporting municipalities. The 2013 Division of Revenue introduces a new grant, the municipal water infrastructure grant, to be administered by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. The grant is aimed at accelerating the delivery of clean water to communities that do not have access to water. Minister, I think this will also ensure that the boreholes in villages like Lerume, Nkuzana and Rampampaspoort are functional and serviced.
Local government has taken access to clean water as a strategic priority, especially when considering the objectives of the new municipal water infrastructure grant. According to the latest National Nonrevenue Water Assessment Report, released recently by the Water Research Commission, more than 50% of municipalities are challenged with providing a water balance.
Ha tinyungubyisa hi mitirho leyo saseka leyi endliwaka hi ndzawulo ku yisa mati eka vanhu. Hi hoyozela na makungu yo ndlandlamuxa vukorhokeri lebyi leswaku byi fikelela na laha mati ma nga si fikelelaka. Hi na ku tshemba leswaku hinkwaswo leswi vulavuriweke laha namuntlha swi ta endleka ku nga ri khale. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraph follows.)
[We pride ourselves on the good work that is being done by the department to deliver water to the people. We even congratulate them on the plan to expand these services to cover areas where water has not reached. We have confidence that everything discussed here today will happen before long.]
I therefore propose that whilst all these above-mentioned initiatives are good, there is a definite need for cross-cutting collaboration on the above issues. These initiatives should address questions around the role of municipalities in infrastructure development, especially how to address the remaining backlogs and how to maintain existing infrastructures.
In conclusion, I want to congratulate the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, the staff, the chairperson, hon Johnny de Lange, and all the members of the portfolio committee. I also encore what the chairperson has mentioned, that this department is called a "wholesaler" because it does everything. Sometimes we as people don't understand how important water is. Therefore, from here all of us must go back and educate people at home that this is a scarce commodity in this country. I thank you. [Applause.]