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Notes for the Minister at the Green drop report release and awards ceremony on 1 April 2022

Thank you, Programme Director, Mr William Moraka from SALGA, Good morning to:

MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning – Mr Anton Bredell, MEC Local Government Western Cape, Mr Anton Bredell

Executive Mayor: Witzenberg Local Municipality (Host City Mayor) Cllr Hendrik Smit Executive Mayor: Mgungundlovu District Municipality, Cllr Mzi Zuma

Executive Mayor: Ilembe District Municipality, Cllr Philani Shandu

Executive Mayor: The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Cllr Tania Campbell Executive Mayor: Lesedi Local Municipality, Cllr Mluleki Nkosi

Deputy Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Alderman Ian Neilson

Executive Mayor of Bitou Municipality, ( Rep: Act Director Engineering Services, Michael Rhode) Executive Mayor of Mosselbay, Cllr Dirk Kotze

Executive Mayor: Saldhana Local Municipality, Cllr Andre Truter Executive Mayor: Drakenstein Local Municipality, (Rep MMC Infrastructre Theunis Bester)

Director-General of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Dr Sean Western Cape Local Government HOD, Mr Graham Paulse BreedeGouritz Catchment Management Chair, Mr Bongani Mnisi BreedeGouritz Catchment Managemeent CE, Mr Jan Van Staden SASOL Representatives

Stakeholders from various sectors, Members of the community,

All media present, Ladies and Gentlemen, All protocol observed.

We are gathered here today to, not only release the Green Drop report but recognise and award those who have heeded the call and subscribed to ensuring that both citizens and the environment are protected – with the hopes of amplifying the call for all municipalities to join in.

In 2008, the Department of Water and Sanitation (the then Department of Water Affairs) introduced the Blue Drop and Green Drop certification programmes. The Blue Drop Certification Programme seeks to protect citizens from the hazards associated with contaminated drinking water and the Green Drop Certification programme seeks to protect the environment from the hazards associated with polluted wastewater/sewage. It sets standards higher than minimum requirements and challenges Water Services Authorities to go the extra mile in a quest for excellence. Whilst there is primary legislation which deals with these aspects, it needs to be understood is that these programmes are intended to augment and compliment the normal legislative and regulatory provisions.

What these two programmes also seek to do is get municipalities to measure themselves against international risk standards for drinking water quality management and wastewater quality respectively.

The first Blue Drop and Green Drop reports were released in 2009 and each year thereafter until 2014. It is unfortunate that there was a break in our undertaking but we have since resuscitated the programmes.

To this end, the Department has revitalised the Green Drop Certification programme to ensure the overall improvement of municipal wastewater management and today, the 1st report since 2014 will be released after which the audit of drinking water quality will be prioritised to inform the Blue Drop Report which is due in March 2023.

As we prepare for the release of the Blue Drop Report, there is also the National Water Quality Monitoring programmes to inform on the status of river water quality. All of this information is being used to inform a National Water Quality improvement plan which includes a Waste Discharge Charge system, to apply appropriate penalties in parallel to enforcement activities to stop all non-compliant discharges into the water courses.

The Department is focused on ensuring that compliance to legislation takes cause and remains dedicated to ensuring that risks revealed through these programmes are managed and abated in order to enhance the work of the Department as a water sector regulator.

Ladies and gentlemen, today we award 23 awards – 22 to municipal systems and 1 to a private system. Now I must say, the competition was quite tight with 30 municipalities scoring between 88-89%, making them serious contenders! This then means that those of you who will be accepting awards today need to stay ahead!

It was quite alarming however, that 334 systems out of 850 are classified as critical.

We had our National Water and Sanitation Summit in February this year, and one of the Commissions focused on ‘Water Shortages – Delivery Mechanisms by Municipalities and Water Boards’.

One of the key challenges we observed during our working sessions in the country, and which was further cited by Mayors, was ageing / aged infrastructure and this Commission sought to provide solutions as to how municipalities should be capacitated to ensure that they carry out their constitutional mandate.

The President spoke of a social compact. Private sector partners expressed their commitment to partnering with the Department through their support to launch the Green Drop Report. Mining Houses such as Lebalelo Water User Association (with whom we are partnering on the Olifants project in Limpopo), Samancor Mining and SASOL – thank you for your commitment – we look forward to working with you!

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the media, we as the Department of Water and Sanitation are committed to ensuring that all the citizens of the country are granted access to water – CLEAN water at that, but that also, the environment is not harmed in our operations as we do so!

As I step down, I would like to thank and congratulate all of the today’s award recipients – thank you for truly being in service of the people. To those who are still left behind, we call upon you to step -up!

Thank you!

Source: Government of South Africa

Remarks of the Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, MP

On the Occasion of the Handover of the ECD Function to the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, MP Freedom Park, Tshwane

Honourable Minister of Basic Education, Minister Angie Motshekga; Deputy Ministers; Members of the Executive Council for Social Development and Education; Directors-General of Social Development and Basic Education; Provincial Heads of Departments for Social Development and Education; Early Childhood Development Practitioners; Distinguished guests; Ladies and gentlemen; Children in attendance (You, South Africa’s future. Yes, You, our lasting hope); and Programme Director.

Today marks an historic day in the advances that South Africa’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector has been undergoing. Pursuant of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement when, during the February 2019 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), he directed [and I quote] the responsibility for ECD centres will be migrated from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education [and…] we will proceed with the process towards two years of compulsory ECD for all children, before they enter Grade 1 [Unquote].

Consequently, today’s handover of the early childhood development function to the Department of Education is the culmination of tireless efforts between Minister Motshekga and I to realise this dream of the Sixth Administration of our democratic government. We thank the Members of the Executive Councils and their teams, as well as the Directors-General and their team for bringing us to this landmark.

The latest employment data is painting a picture that says unemployment has climbed to 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021. The migration of the ECD function from Social Development to Basic Education should serve as a means by which we definitively challenge this jobs’ market narrative.

Resulting from this handover to you Minister should be an increase of our collective investments in the foundation of the prospects of South Africa’s children. This is the opportunity to start dismantling inter-generational poverty among all our people. It is for this reason that fiscal allocation to social policy priorities is an economic investment than a consumption.

As the history of the ECD sector has been unfolding since the dawn of our democracy, working within inclusive inter-governmental coordinating mechanisms, and in consultation with the sector, the children and parents, the departments of Social Development and Basic Education are continuing to shape this sector’s outcomes. To this end, I am confident that in the interest of children, the two departments will, from this point onwards, renew their commitments and encourage similar commitments from across society in the many years that are ahead of us.

As we undertake this journey into our children’s certain and promising future, allow me to relate a few among key historical milestones that brought the ECD sector to this day:

• In the year 1992, the World Bank and the Centre for Education Policy Development conducted a study that found that just over thirty-three percent (33%) of white children from birth to six (6) years attended ECD programmes compared to only six percent (6%) of black children of the same age.

• Shortly before 1994, the African National Congress (ANC), published the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) policy in which it is recognised that [I quote] children of pre-school age have little or no access to education and training [Unquote] and a commitment is made that the provision of early learning and development opportunities for [I quote again] young children is an important step towards lifetime learning and the emancipation of women [Unquote]. 28 years after making this commitment, we can demonstrate that our government continues to grow its resolve to children and women.

• We recognise the tireless contributions and work of civil society organisations in facilitating access to early learning and development opportunities for children in communities that were grossly neglected and marginalised by the pre-democracy establishment.

• Countless policy and legislative developments were born from the coordination and collaboration initiatives that this government has been leading in the past 28 years. Key among these is the centrepiece legislation — Children’s Act 38 of 2005 — that is currently undergoing amendments.

• The 2011 Diagnostic Review of the ECD sector served as an important impetus for the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030 and the 2015 National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy. The NDP commits the country to [and I quote] make early childhood development a top priority among the measures to improve the quality of education and long-term prospects of future generations [Unquote]. It further indicates that the State should take the responsibility of ensuring that all vulnerable families receive early childhood development programmes.

• In addition, the NDP recommends that [I quote] there should be a policy and programme shift to ensure that the Department of Basic Education takes the core responsibility for the provision and monitoring of ECD. Other departments should continue to provide services in a supportive capacity. Resource allocation should gradually reflect the changes in institutional responsibility for early childhood development [Unquote].

• The golden thread that weaves the ECD sector together is the importance of our ECD practitioners, inclusive of ECD teachers, administrators and support staff. As was set out in the RDP in 1994, and noting that this area is work-in-progress, significant ground has been covered regarding the formalisation of the qualifications of these professionals.

• Over the past two years, while government continued with measures to address, prevent, and combat the spread of CoVID-19, the Department of Social Development appreciated the inputs of our civil society partners who are representing the majority of the ECD sector. Our constructive engagements and occasionally difficult discussions have been invaluable to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the sector.

• One of government’s largest interventions in support of the ECD sector is the ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund (ECD-ESRF) that we introduced in 2020 as an emergency relief intervention to support the ECD sector to recover from the effects of CoVID-19. With no prior experience in an intervention of this scale and complexity, I am pleased to say that the ECD-ESRF has paid out more than R330 million and benefited more than fifty-seven thousand ECD workers. All of this is owing to the support of our partners.

Not only is it our explicit commitment for every South African child to receive quality education and support that will enable them to lead a patriotic, productive and meaningful life as members of their communities. It is also our conviction that every South African is a long-awaited prospect with which the global community will be redefined the global community.

Perhaps these children belong to a higher parent — destiny — and we only need to help them to cross this one bridge within the horizon. Indeed, the children of South Africa are the embodiment of the timeless future beyond our mere horizon. Those of us who are standing here today are as bows from which they should, as arrows and swift and far, be thrust forth to hit the mark.

Ladies and gentlemen, this now brings me to the point of handing over the responsibility to lead the implementation and strengthening of South Africa’s ECD sector to the Minister of Basic Education. I am doing so by symbolically handing over a tree to Minister Motshekga. This tree represents the package of ECD services that the Minister will lead, coordinate and monitor from this point onwards.

The roots of the tree symbolise the foundations that we have already laid over the past 28 years. Well nurtured, the tree will grow stronger and continue to spurt further growth. The trunk of the tree signifies a single, strong system that organises the branches of the tree. The branches and leaves of the tree represent specialised contributions from our collective to nurture, grow and invest in ECD programmes. More than ever before, we all must work together to ensure that our ECD tree becomes the expression of inter-generational wisdom, progress and prosperity.

Thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa

Nooitgedacht Phase 3 water promise to Nelson Mandela Metro community delivered

The first drops from the Nooitgedacht Water Scheme were delivered yesterday, 31 March; this is the last step towards the finalisation of Phase 3 of the project which is meant to augment water supply to the Nelson Mandela Metro and surrounds.

The delivery of these first drops comes after the Minister for Water and Sanitation, Mr Senzo Mchunu, made a vow during his visit to the project site on 11 March 2022, accompanied by the Member of Executive Council for Eastern Cape COGTA, Mr Xolile Nqatha, Executive Mayor of the Metro, Cllr Eugene Johnson, and the former Board members of Amatola Water.

The original scheme was commissioned in 1993 with a capacity of 70ml/day. The Nooitgedacht Water Treatment Works receives its raw water from the Gariep Dam which is situated up country and is therefore not affected by local droughts.

The Metro has over the last number of years, carried out the planning, design, tender preparation, contract administration and contract supervision for the augmentation of the Nooitgedacht supply scheme.

The DWS has intervened and appointed the Amatola Water Board as an implementing agent for phase 3 of this project. The project completion date was initially set for June 2021 and later moved to September 2021, but has faced delays owing to budget constraints and contractual matters which has since been resolved.

During the working session in the province last year in August, Minister Mchunu was requested by former Mayors and later by the business sector to intervene, for the completion of the project to be realised.

On 29 March 2022, the contractor conducted a water supply shutdown that was required to carry out the final connection for Phase 3. The connection work was a success, and currently Nooitgedacht Water Treatment Works is delivering about 190 megalitres of water per day, of which 70 megalitres is being transferred via the Stanford Road Booster Pump Station to the Western areas.

“We are very elated that we’ve released the first drops on time, as promised to the citizens; this has been a long time coming and we are indeed grateful. The Metro has been experiencing drought for the past seven years and with the constant threat of ‘Day Zero’, this comes as a reassurance that water will be provided to our people. The realisation of these first drops is through the concerted efforts of all – Government (at all spheres), the private sector and the citizens – the social compact which the President has been emphasising on. Thank you to all those who dedicated their time and did not tire in their efforts, we are indeed grateful. We do still however encourage residents of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and all South Africans to use water sparingly!,” said Minister Senzo Mchunu.

Source: Government of South Africa