Hon Koornhof, the people in the rural areas are neglected, it is true. They were neglected by the apartheid government. In the ANC, we are taking all those people on board so that we can address their challenges. We are responsible. [Applause.] The infrastructure is old. Yes, of course it is old, but the ANC has a plan to address those challenges. [Interjections.]
I am not going to respond to the hon Holomisa in his absence. He has left this debate while it was in progress. I must say, if the hon Holomisa were attending our meetings, that advice could help.
However, he is not attending any meetings. He only debated in the budget we had last year. This year, he is coming here and giving advice. He was given the task of running the Transkei homeland government, and he failed to deliver a drop of water. Even the Umzimvubu people did not have access to water from the Umzimvubu River. The ANC government is dealing with that, to make sure that people access water from the Umzimvubu. [Interjections.]
Agb Groenewald, al die boere gaan vir water betaal. Jy moet dit vir hulle gaan s. Al die boere gaan vir water betaal. Enigiemand wat water gebruik, moet daarvoor betaal! [Applous.] [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Hon Groenewald, all the farmers will pay for water. You must go and tell them that. All the farmers will have to pay for water. Anybody who uses water must pay for it! [Applause.] [Interjections.]]
What are we, as the ANC, doing? The ANC is delivering on the same issues. The ANC has a plan to address all the challenges that affect our communities.
Coming to the critical matter of compliance, our water resources are under severe pressure from pollution by sewage, effluent discharge, industrial effluent, acid mine drainage and nonpoint source pollution by agriculture, mining and other land use activities. All these pollutants have a negative impact on health, economic growth and the ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems. The awareness of quality water systems has improved and more emphasis has been placed on water resource protection as an important goal, not only to protect aquatic ecosystems, but also for socioeconomic and public health reasons.
Lastly, active gold mining and the associated watering of mines along the East, Central and West Rand underground mining basins of the Witwatersrand goldfields have decreased considerably since the 1990s and essentially ceased in 2010. The underground voids are steadily filling with water, which interacts with the exposed rock to form acid mine drainage, which is characterised by an excessive concentration of dissolved metals and sulphate salts. In the case of the Western basin, the acid mine water gradually reached the surface and started to decant into the surface streams of the Crocodile River system in 2002.
I must say, however, that the ANC government under Minister Edna Molewa has put a task team together that will be responsible for dealing with issues related to acid mine drainage. Decanting is expected to start in the central basin in 2014.
The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]