Chairperson, regrettably, the Department of Water Affairs is in a soggy mess right now. Many of our colleagues have acknowledged the huge governance issues, and, while I acknowledge that the present Minister has inherited this unfortunate legacy, the buck stops with her. We have heard of the firing of one director-general, the suspension of the replacement, the suspension of the chief financial officer, and that the Department of Water Affairs now has an acting CFO.
The chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa, made a joke at the Scopa hearings recently. He said the Department of Water Affairs is like the soapie Generations - full of actors. But, Minister, it is now well past the point of being a joke. It is a well-known fact that persons in acting positions do not always perform optimally and the ripple effect is that the department as a whole is underperforming and is demotivated.
During the Scopa hearing it emerged that the Department of Water Affairs was faced with many challenges, and I will mention a few. They did not have an accurate asset register. Translated into layman's terms, this means that they do not know what they own or where their assets are. Slow processing resulted in underexpenditure. An amount of R20 million was allocated to the Moutse bulk water supply project, but slow and delayed approval resulted in only R13 million finally being spent on the project.
An amount of R54 million meant for Giyani bulk water drought relief was reallocated to other projects because of a delay in the finalisation of the project. Lack of capacity resulted in the Acornhoek bulk water supply project, valued at R37 million, being put on hold. The contractor for this project is holding the department to ransom, and my question is: How did the department find itself in this position? I could go on and on, but I think the point has been made.
The United Nations recognises access to water and sanitation as a basic human right. Target 10 of Millennium Development Goal 7 is to halve the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015. South Africa is one of only 12 countries in which mortality rates for children have increased since the baseline for MDGs was set in 1990. In South Africa, almost 2 000 children die annually before they are one month old, and an additional 51 300 die between 29 days old and 5 years old.
The deadly cholera outbreak in Limpopo in 2008 is one example of poor quality management. South Africa's country report on the MDG says that we are not on track to achieve MDG 7 by 2015. Minister, given these startling statistics, given that one third of the eight Millennium Development Goals depend on water and that South Africa will be the focus of the world at COP 17, the 17th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, I suggest your department jacks up its act and addresses MDG 7 with greater urgency.
The department recently sent out a pamphlet on water-saving tips to commemorate International Water Week. I wish to share with you some gems of information. It advises one to "Look at the toilet pipes and Klepps." K-l-e- p-p-s! I'm assuming it should have read "clips". The "uranal", - u-r-a-n-a- l,"should rinse for six to eight seconds". I'm assuming that this is a reference to a urinal. And this one is classic:
If your garden needs less watering but deeper watering you are encouraging a deeper root canal which stronger plants will be a consequence. The usage can make some of the deeper plants more dependable.
What on earth do you think that means? I consider myself to be fairly literate and well read, but this tip left me high and dry. Minister, how much did this poorly spelt and grammatically error-riddled pamphlet cost? Who was its author? Who proofread it? Who authorised and signed off on it? I think it's a shame and an embarrassment to you, since it went out to at least 15 000 households in your name.
A recent report by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, on water in South Africa highlights the deteriorating water quality in South Africa. It says that if we continue to operate on a business-as- usual approach, our freshwater resources will be fully depleted and unable to meet the needs of our people by 2030. That is indeed a scary thought.
Minster, the Department of Water Affairs is the custodian of South Africa's water resources. It is time to step up to the plate, protect it, and give real meaning to your slogan, "Some for all forever." Thank you. [Applause.]