Chairperson, it could be said, and in fact it has been said that right now South Africa is up the creek without a paddle. We are on the brink of a water crisis and we have no experts. Hon Minister, will the plans you have outlined be enough at this critical stage to avert a water crisis and the resulting hardships that it will cause?
According to reports, we have only three active limnologists, in other words, experts on reservoir lake management, and no tertiary courses on this subject. Clearly, experts must be sourced without delay and relevant courses must be made available through relevant institutions if we are to prevent polluted dams deteriorating further and becoming entirely useless. How has the budget accommodated this?
We are a very dry country and the little water we do have is being badly managed. Some 90 municipalities do not have a single professional water engineer, and very few have written operating procedures.
Right now, in the middle of this highly unsatisfactory situation, we are confronted with a decision by the University of Johannesburg to sever relations with Israel's Ben-Gurion University. How could this possibly be in the interests of the people of South Africa?
Denying the nation access to science and technology offered by leading institutions is absurd and all the more reprehensible as South Africa faces increasing challenges regarding our water supply. Has the Minister questioned this decision which negatively impacts on the department's ability to deliver on its mandate? Is the department working to help restore those relations?
This severing of ties happened at the University of Johannesburg while the university was benefiting from Israeli expertise in finding a method to clean the algae which infests much of South Africa's drinking water. Scientists, in the last few weeks, released an alarming report about the link between blue-green algae and Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other debilitating diseases. The algae produce a neurotoxin known as BMAA, beta-methylamino-l-alanine, which is present throughout South Africa. Leading experts confirm that there is a near total lack of management to counter the problem and that the risks of damage via crops and livestock are not known yet.
The ACDP is very concerned about the challenges facing the department currently, but we will be supporting this Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]