Chairman’s comment

ARE THE RIGHT PEOPLE sitting at the table?

It was heartening to see people from all spheres of government and different industries attend the recent National Water and Sanitation Summit. Water and sanitation management cuts across multiple government departments, ministries and business sectors, and the water industry cannot solve this crisis alone.

By Dan Naidoo, chairman, WISA

We need to engage the public, as well as a broad range of stakeholders from the public and private sector more regularly and directly to change their behaviour towards water.

There must be a meeting of minds. We can no longer work “just in the water sector in isolation”; we need to bring key people (like the ministers of Finance, CoGTA, Labour, Salga, and others) around the table when discussing the water crisis. It is impossible to solve the water crisis without considering funding mechanisms and it is impossible to grow the economy without addressing the water crisis.

While there is a lot of good work being done in isolation, we don’t seem to be having conversations with the right people. We need to expand our audience.

A promising appointment has been Dr Sean Philips as the director general for the Department of Water and Sanitation. He is an engineer with vast experience in our sector. Our new minister is also passionate and committed.

The water sector needs to have simple conversations with the new minister, director general and municipal councils. We need to focus on the simplicity of what needs to be done and understand that not everybody needs to be brought into every discussion. People can lose interest with complex discussions. We need to clearly show where the priorities lie and where quick wins can be achieved. We need to engage with all concerned in a meaningful way.

There are so many problems in the water sector, and when new people are on board, we tend to ‘steamroll’ our agenda, while we should be able to explain quite simply our key risks and immediate solutions with confidence.

The politics of water

South Africa is blessed with some of the best water scientists and engineers in the world. While there are plenty of knowledgeable and capable people to tackle the water crisis, the sociopolitics of water hampers their ability to implement sound scientific policies and projects.

Furthermore, unstable coalitions in municipalities hinder service delivery. This is ironic, given the fact that the inability of local governments to react to the water needs of communities has already become a major cause of service delivery protests.

To address this crisis, the right technical people need to be appointed in the relevant technical positions and the service providers and contractors must be equally appointed to meet the technical solutions required.

In conclusion, I am excited for the 2022 WISA Conference, and I do hope to see new people from different parts of the economy and from different government ministries attend the event.