South Africa
With various partners in South Africa IRC is working on a sector wide approach and local governance so that the water sector has more impact on the WASH MDGs.
Study warns for sanitation crisis in South Africa
01 Jun 10
“The practice of building sanitation infrastructure while not allowing for adequate maintenance in the future, whether it is basic VIP sanitation or full waterborne sanitation, is short-sighted and will result in South Africa facing a sanitation crisis in the medium term” says Jay Bhagwan, based on a recent study in South Africa.
South Africa: No ‘one-size-fits-all’ governance framework anymore
12 Feb 10
South Africa is no longer enforcing a ‘one-size-fits-all’ governance framework that applies uniformly to cities, small towns and remote and rural areas, which it is now calling “an anomaly”. In reality they are very different places with different needs and capacities. This is one of the recommendations emerging from the State of Local Government in South Africa report COGTA 2009 that will also have impact on the water and sanitation provision in the country.
Many Water Service Authorities struggle to deliver basic level free water
12 Feb 10
Access to water is a human right in South Africa and provided for in the Constitution. But many Water Service Authorities struggle to fulfil their most basic service delivery obligations.
Clearing sanitation backlog requires 400 million Rand in Capricorn District Municipality
12 Feb 10
Sanitation is a major challenge in service delivery in South Africa. In the Capricorn District Municipality (CDM) based in Polokwane (Pietersburg) in Limpopo Province the backlog of people not served with basic sanitation is 52 percent. CDM needs around 400 million Rand to clear the backlog to provide decent sanitation to communities in its five local municipalities: Polokwane, Aganang, Blouberg, Molemole and Lepelle-Nkumpi.
South Africa will eventually get an independent water regulator
12 Feb 10
“We as Department of Water Affairs want to regulate. In the interim period we are in and in the current political situation we decided to do it at the department with an independent task force. We started regulating water services three years ago", Mr. Helgard Muller, Chief Director of Water Services, Department of Water Affairs and Environment told IRC.
South Africa: Robust and critical report on why too many municipalities perform poorly
12 Feb 10
“It is a very robust and critical report that looked at issues such as governance, skills, finances, it even criticizes politicians”. This is how a high water official in South Africa described a recent report from the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Ministry on the status of municipal service delivery and why too many municipalities perform poorly.
South Africa: Turning the tide in local government
09 Dec 09
President Zuma: “We need to do more and better”.
Decentralization
11 Aug 09
Implementing the decentralization of water and sanitation services is a key topic in many developing countries. Decentralization involves transfer of functions, assets, staff, infrastructure and budget from the national level to the local level. Experience in South Africa illustrates that this process is not an easy one, even though they successfully undertook the process as part of the sector wide approach (SWAp) in a collaborative manner.
South Africa SWAp
11 Aug 09
The South African sector wide approach (SWAp) started in 2001 in the water and sanitation services sub-sector. “We don’t call it a sector wide approach, we call it Masibambane – this means “Let’s work together”. For us it is everyone, not just the water people. Actually without us, local government, they would not have a sector, because we are a very big player in this sector."
