Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister Dikeledi Magadzi on Wednesday opened a two-day mid-term sustainable development goals (SDG) workshop in Pretoria, declaring it a celebration of what government has achieved.
“This event is a celebration from where we have come over the first seven years, whilst at the same time acknowledging the areas where the sector has underperformed and created ideas of how we can accelerate the process and maximise our impact towards the 2030 goals.”
Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, South Africa has increased water delivery from 64% in 1994 to 88% in 2022.
This figure currently stands at 66%, with the greatest deficit laying in rural communities and requiring critical investment and acceleration by the sector if South Africa wants to meet its 100% goal in the next seven years.
The SDG6 provision measures the safely managed supply of water. This considers drinking water from an improved water source that is placed on the premise available when needed and free of contamination.
The Department of Water and Sanitation said the lack of effective infrastructure asset management and the ability to collect revenue for the sale of water remains a serious concern, noting that 30% of current water services infrastructure is experiencing different levels of dysfunctionality.
“These challenges exist first and foremost due to poor or no infrastructure asset management being applied by our water service authorities, including little or no operation and maintenance. This shortfall is experienced all over South Africa and needs addressing urgently,” said Magadzi.
The basic level of service for sanitation currently stands at 83%, which includes the use of improved facilities that are not shared with other households. The SDG6 safely managed sanitation figure currently stands at 73% and includes a requirement of faecal sludge management.
South Africa is currently driving the Sustainable Development Goal 6 programme throughout the country with its sector partners and aligning the activities with those of the national water and sanitation master plan, the national water resource strategy, and the national development plan for achievement by 2030.
“Currently, South Africa is behind in three of key targets including clean water, sanitation and water quality. These are of most concern and are unlikely to reach their targets without an investment of R130-billion per annum in infrastructure over the next eight years. So far, there is a 33% shortfall compared to secured funding.
“This is a critical challenge and a gap that must be bridged to ensure sufficient and sustainable infrastructure for our future generation,” she said.
The workshop is in preparation of the UN water conference that will take place in New York from March 22-24 and co-hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherland. The conference is dubbed 2023 Conference for the Mid-term Comprehensive Review of Implementation of the UN Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation (2018-2028).
It will include opening and closing sessions, six plenary sessions, five interactive dialogues, as well as side events organised by participants.
The conference will result in a summary of proceedings by the UN General Assembly president, which will feed into the 2023 session of the UN high-level political forum on sustainable development.
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