Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Ministers, hon members, guests, friends and, most importantly, the South African people, I would also like to acknowledge my family who are at home watching these proceedings on television, in Johannesburg, Secunda and Mossel Bay; in particular, my daughter, Rosemary, and my nephews, Kyle and Benjamin, and my niece, Jordan.
As I stand here today, we are nearing the end of the 16th year since the democratic breakthrough. If we were to compare our democracy to a person, she would be in Grade 11. She would have her learner's licence and we would consider her sweet 16. Sixteen years is not a long time to address the massive developmental differences between rural and urban communities, and the enormous underdevelopment that took place in the former homelands; firstly by the imperialists and then later by the apartheid government. Having said that, the challenges still exist and we as the ANC are committed to addressing these challenges.
In the past 16 years, 18,7 million people have been given access to clean water and 10,9 million were provided with sanitation. The number of households with the bucket system reduced from 605 675 in 1994 to 113 085 in 2007 and this figure is decreasing all the time. These achievements have put enormous pressure on the existing bulk water infrastructure. The report of the Ad hoc Committee on Co-ordinated Oversight on Service Delivery that was tabled earlier this year highlighted some of these challenges we are still facing. This includes that the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs cannot act apart from issuing directives when problems of water quality are raised at municipal level because the department is the regulator of water provision whereas municipalities have the mandate to provide water.
Another challenge is that, if the municipality has resources to enhance water provision, it can't do so, because that falls under the scope of the district municipality.
Provincial water committees chaired by Premiers exist to enable rapid response to some of these challenges. So far 57 municipalities have been assisted and a risk profile of municipalities has been developed to enable the department to identify areas in need of urgent attention. This co- operative holistic approach should become the standard practice. The departments need to talk to one another and the different spheres of government need to plan together. This will allow challenges to be indentified early and corrected before they become crises.
The most pressing issues around bulk water infrastructure are the questions of maintaining existing infrastructure and the lack of infrastructure in small rural municipalities. Over the years the lack of maintenance has led to large amounts of water being wasted and we as South Africa cannot afford to waste any more water.
The President has told us that South Africa is a water-scarce country. If we, as South Africans, continue on our current path, where we think that water will keep coming out of the tap forever and ever without a thought to the reality, then the next generations will be facing a very serious problem.
So, South Africa, this wasting of water does not only affect this government, but it affects all of us. Saving water must become part of our lifestyle. So, don't just walk past a leaky tap or drive past water flowing down the road on a dry day; report it, make a noise and alert the authorities. Tell them that you have been requested by Parliament to do so. [Interjections.]