Unless something extraordinarily dramatic happens, SA is stable in its water supply, and the government is in control.
This is according to water and sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu speaking to the media on Sunday in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, where the governing ANC held its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
Mchunu warned that interventions like water shifting in Johannesburg, the country’s economic hub, should not be equated with national power utility Eskom’s blackout schedules as part of load shedding.
He said water provision was a constitutional right, and therefore everyone in South Africa must have access to clean water 24/7.
He said that when Johannesburg Water said water consumption was up, they were right.
“They are not blaming you. They are stating the fact that you are overusing water, all of you, the residents of South Africa. Please be careful. Don’t overuse.”
Said Mchunu: “They’re not saying don’t quench your thirst. They’re not saying don’t go shower. And therefore, let’s be cautious in terms of usage. I want to be upfront about that and say that we stand with them.”
He said residents could not just water flowers for an hour while talking to their neighbors and using all their data on the phone to call people everywhere.
“Please don’t do that,” he said, adding that SA was indeed a water-scarce country, but plans were underway to add more capacity to the system.
“We’ve said to all these municipalities to please invest in new infrastructure, particularly your pump stations, but particularly reservoirs, and I’m hoping that all these municipalities have done so”.
“So, there is a lot that is happening in the public sector in terms of investing in infrastructure for water and sanitation”.
He continued: “Now I’m also saying to you, please don’t put water together with electricity. Electricity is already experiencing load shedding. There is no load shedding here; there is load shifting.”
Mchunu said the two were vastly different. “There is enough water available for us all. All that’s a problem that we’re battling with is supplying water to households. And there’s a big difference between water and electricity at the moment,” he said.
