WASH News Southern Africa
News feed maintained by information specialists from IRC and partners.
Zambia: State aware of urgent need for more investment in water sector’
04 Jan 10
Minsiter of Energy and Water Development Kenneth Konga says Government is aware of the urgent need for more investment in the water and sanitation sector and is committed to ensuring increased funding.Mr Konga said this is evidenced by increased funding to the sector, citing the rise in funding in the national budget allocation from 2.7 [...]
Southern Africa: Water Centres of Excellence Initiative finally takes off
04 Jan 10
A project to boost water resources in southern Africa, first announced in 2003, held its first executive meeting [in November 2009].The Water Centres of Excellence Initiative, started by New Partnerships for Development in Africa (NEPAD) [read the original strategic plan] , aims to promote cooperation and knowledge transfer among water research institutions to secure adequate [...]
Angola: water service provision for the peri-urban poor
15 Dec 09
One of the important challenges of post-war reconstruction is to provide more and better quality basic services, such as water. Previous attempts at upgrading main supply systems to accommodate peri-urban areas have been overwhelmed by the explosive demographic growth of Angola’s major cities brought about by many years of civil war.A new paper by the [...]
Madagascar: water export cancelled
07 Dec 09
Madagascar’s Water Minister Nirhy Lanto Andriamahazo announced that a proposed deal to export water from the Faraony River to Saudi Arabia was being canceled. Another project to sell water from the island’s northeast is under study.The deal would have redirected one percent of the river’s flow, about 260,000 cubic meters per day, for export, creating [...]
Southern African network for sustainable sanitation launched
15 Nov 09
The Ecological Sanitation Research group (EcoSanRes) at Stockholm Environment Institute has launched its first Knowledge Node on Sustainable Sanitation for southern Africa during the second Africa Water Week. It is one of the ten planned regional nodes, the next one will be launched next week in Uganda. “Our aim is to train groups in sustainable [...]
Water cut-offs Cape Town unconstitutional, says DWA
14 Nov 09
The water cut-offs in Cape Town based on one of its by-laws is unconstitutional, as the South African Constitution provides that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient water. The by-law conflicts with the empowering legislation as well as with the Water Services Act. But the City of Cape Town is within the [...]
South Africa, Cape Town: objections raised against ‘water cuts’ probe
10 Nov 09
Mayor Dan Plato and Western Cape premier Helen Zille both object to a planned government investigation into water cuts in Cape Town. The Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka, set up a task team in October 2009 to investigate alleged water cuts after he visited Mitchells Plain and found several homes of [...]
Swaziland: more boreholes, no water
06 Nov 09
In Swaziland over 3,000 boreholes have been drilled in the country since 1986, but over 40 per cent of the population have no access clean water and about 90 percent of the community water projects are not functioning. Many boreholes have broken down and the communities, who were supposed to maintain them, lack [...]
Zimababwe: water wars hit rural Zimbabwe
06 Nov 09
When water experts warned at the turn of the millennium that soon wars will be fought not over oil anymore but over water, little did Zimbabweans know that they would be some of the first people affected by this dire prediction.There is increasing competition for water due to a combination of numerous environmental and political [...]
Mozambique: remote villages out of sight, out of mind?
06 Nov 09
Mcondece village in northwest Mozambique has a population of around 400; its original inhabitants moved here many generations in search of fertile land. It is one of several settlements in the region which lacks a borehole or water pump, and therefore has no access to clean and safe drinking water.“The major problem we have with [...]
