Mr Speaker, on the issues of challenges there is no doubt that South Africa is a semiarid country. Water is not available in abundance and this is compounded by the fact that we are losing almost 40% of the water underground that is not reaching the people and the municipalities because of leakages. Those are the issues that are applicable across the country in different municipalities.
Therefore, we are involved in measures to ensure that: one, we save on the leaks so that the leakage is able to be stopped; and two, we are involved in campaigns to ensure that we save water because if we do not do so, as we get water from Lesotho, the agreements are going to kick in earlier than the year 2017 if we don't act on this.
Therefore, as government we are involved in measures to ensure that water is treated as a scarce resource and that it is managed as such. But we are requesting Members of Parliament to work with us in this campaign of conserving water. Thank you very much.
Submission of Cedaw reports to UN and progress made in implementing Cedaw provisions
202. Mrs D M Ramodibe (ANC) asked the Minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities:
(1) Why (a) did South Africa not submit the required country progress reports to the United Nations in terms of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Cedaw, in (i) 2001 and (ii) 2005 and (b) were country reports submitted late;
(2) who is responsible for verifying the accuracy and relevance of information reflected in the country report;
(3) what measures are in place to ensure that (a) future reports are submitted timeously and (b) they meet all requirements as set out by the Cedaw Committee; (4) what has been the progress in implementing the provisions of Cedaw? NO2357E