Chair’s comment

LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE WATER SECTOR

Dan Naidoo, chair, WISA

The recent ruling by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on the flow of raw sewage into the Vaal Dam, private homes and public areas highlighted a lack of accountability in the water sector.

By Dan Naidoo, chair, WISA

Despite having the ability to do so, it did not appear to the commission that the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) had been able to hold the municipality accountable for causing sewage pollution in terms of section 19 of the National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998) and section 28(2) of the National Environmental Management Act (No. 107 of 1998),” said the commission.

Furthermore, the SAHRC found that this lack of accountability also extended to service providers who did not deliver on work they were contracted to do. “The municipality did not provide any evidence of termination and claim breach where service providers did not deliver. This amounted to another avenue of wastage of resources.”

Constitutional rights

This ruling by the SAHRC emphasises, yet again,

how important it is to have a fully functioning, effective local government. When local government fails and there is no accountability, basic services fail, and our constitutional rights are violated. The SAHRC’s report stated that the impact of the sewage discharge, occurring over more than five years at the time of writing, violated a number of constitutional rights: • human dignity • freedom and security of the person • an environment that is not harmful to health and well-being • property • healthcare • food • water • social security • just administrative action • children to be protected from maltreatment and degradation. It is incredibly sad to see the SAHRC

get involved with these water and sanitation issues when public servants fail to deliver. Due to the critical importance of water as a basic human right, it is essential that accountable, technically equipped and professional people are placed within key government posts.

Professionalisation

Professionalisation is the action or process of giving an occupation, activity or group professional qualities, typically by increasing training or raising required qualifications. The professionalisation of key water posts within government and waterrelated institutions will end this lack of accountability.

When we look at public servants – people who are working in SOEs, water boards, municipalities and government departments – we need to reflect on the skills, experience and capacity required to execute the requirements of these key portfolios. What training and skills related to these portfolios did the incumbents have? If key waterrelated posts are professionalised, then at least there is a minimum technical requirement in terms of qualification, proven experience and competency.

But more than that, the professionalisation of the water industry will create caring, ethical leadership. We need public servants who are technically competent and can conduct their work in an ethical way – showing care for the environment and the public.

This is the type of professionalism that WISA wants to drive – all-rounded professionals who are both skilled (as engineers/scientists) but behave in an ethical and caring way and can take our water industry into the next phase and get us out of where we sit now. WISA, like other professional bodies, will have oversight of registered water professionals and will be able to discipline and expel any members who do not abide by the professional code of conduct. The negative actions (or inaction) of water professionals have a vast impact on our planet and society.

Water joins all the dots of the built environment. The people who are responsible for looking after it, preserving it and sustaining it for future generations need to be ethical and caring. Over and above the required technical skills and educational requirements, water professionals need to be service-oriented to the public and environment.

We should never be faced with a court ruling that forces us to do our jobs. The water sector has the skills – we have brilliant scientists and engineers. But we have allowed the Vaal Dam to be polluted, infrastructure to fail, and certain areas to have no water at all. How have we allowed this degradation to happen? As custodians of a precious resource, we should ask ourselves every day: “What more can we do (or not do) to make sure that we conduct our duties in a professional manner?”

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