Mchunu unveils project to solve water and sanitation crisis in North West

Water and sanitation issues in the North West are gaining the attention of the government, with the launch on Saturday of mega sanitation projects by minister of water and sanitation Senzo Mchunu. 

Mchunu and North West acting premier Nono Maloyi launched “Operation Bulela Metsi” , marking the start of various projects aimed at addressing water and sanitation challenges in Moretele, one of the regions affected by a cholera outbreak in the country that has killed about 50 people and infected more than 1,000. 

The launch took place in Mathibestad in the Moretele local municipality and Tlhabane in the Rustenburg local municipality. 

The projects are “in response to water and sanitation challenges faced by the two municipalities and are part of the identified short-, medium- and long-term interventions planned to guarantee sustainable provision of water and sanitation services in the province”, noted Mchunu’s office this week. 

“Operation Bulela Metsi is a culmination of the hard work carried out by a technical task team established by the minister and the provincial government in January this year, to conduct an assessment on the state of water and sanitation services provision in the province and come up with measures to address the challenges and ensure sustainable provision of the services.” 

The launch was attended by water and sanitation deputy minister Judith Tshabalala, provincial and local government officials, business people and traditional leaders. 

It follows the establishment of a provincial and political steering committee by Mchunu and provincial heads earlier this year “to oversee and ensure that water and sanitation services management was sustainable in the province”. 

“The purpose of the steering committee is to co-ordinate, streamline and ensure coherence of the government interventions at political level to fast track the water and sanitation service delivery issues in the province,” said Wisane Mavasa, spokesperson for the water and sanitation department. 

In his budget vote in May, Mchunu said more than R14bn had been allocated to municipalities to address water infrastructure backlogs. 

He announced that the department would be allocating R10.1bn to municipalities through the regional bulk infrastructure grant (RBIG) and R4.6bn through the water services infrastructure grant (WSIG). 

“The RBIG will be spent on 130 different projects across the country and the WSIG will be allocated to more than 400 projects across the country,” Mchunu said. 

The department has over the past year been visiting municipalities with severe water and sanitation challenges and meeting with mayors, councillors, municipal managers, technical staff and local stakeholders “to analyse the problems and identify what needs to be done”. 

“In most cases, we have been able to agree on improvement plans together with the municipalities, including projects to improve infrastructure, funded from our RBIG and WSIG. In many cases, we have mobilised our water boards to assist municipalities to implement the improvement plans,” he said.

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