Category: General

Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo has called for a culture of work, service and professionalism within the public sector and key stakeholders.

Mahlobo made the remarks during the Emfuleni Section 63 Support Stakeholder Meeting held at Vereeniging, Gauteng, on Friday.

The meeting, which was attended by Emfuleni Local Municipality Mayor Sipho Radebe and stakeholders from various structures representing business and civil society within the Sedibeng District Municipality, aimed to provide an update on the progress made on the Emfuleni Section 63 Interventions, and the planned work leading up to the commissioning of pump station 5, which has a capacity of 150 mega litres a day.

In 2021, Minister Senzo Mchunu invoked and placed Emfuleni Local Municipality under Section 63 of the Water Services Act and took over water and sanitation services following the municipality’s failure to manage its water and sanitation services, which resulted in sewer spillages in communities and into the Vaal River, polluting the raw water source.

The objective of the Section 63 interventions is to address sewerage spillage in the Sedibeng District’s Emfuleni and Midvaal, as a result of lack of maintenance and aging infrastructure, and demand that is higher than waste water treatment capacity.

Rand Water was appointed as an implementing agent to deliver an effective solution that will eradicate pollution in the river and its tributaries, and address water and sanitation service delivery challenges, inhibiting both social and economic development in the region.

Mahlobo was appointed by Mchunu to chair the Political Stakeholder Committee of the project in the region to keep all stakeholders abreast of the progress in the implementation of the intervention.

Mahlobo noted the overwhelming progress on the work that has been done to address spillages, and urged the department and other water sector stakeholders to improve their work ethic, service delivery, and professionalism, stressing the significance of regular information sharing to demonstrate the progress being made, and to foster patience among the public.

He said this approach will ensure that stakeholders are well-informed about the ongoing developments, and can collaboratively address any challenges that arise.

The Deputy Minister also emphasised the importance of transparency in water management.

“The sharing of information plays a crucial role in informing the public about the measures implemented to enhance the provision of adequate water services. It also allows for clarification on the progress made in various water projects.

“This, in turn, helps to build trust and confidence within the public. Additionally, transparency holds all stakeholders accountable for their actions, thus enhancing good governance within the water sector,” Mahlobo said.

The Deputy Minister also highlighted a need for collaborative efforts with the private sector to succeed.

He said, it is through the collective efforts of the department, including stakeholders, and the public, that meaningful change can occur.

“By cultivating a culture of work, service, and professionalism, the water and sanitation sector can address existing challenges and pave the way for a future marked by sustainable and equitable access to water resources,” the Deputy Minister said.

A number of stakeholders also expressed their gratitude towards progress made by the intervention, adding that it has been evident that the Emfuleni Section 63 worked extremely well and that more opportunities must be availed for women.

Significant progress in water-related projects

The Rand Water, which is responsible for supplying potable water to the Gauteng Province, highlighted significant progress in various water-related projects.

In its reports, the utility noted that the refurbishment of pump station 2 is currently at 80% completion with pump station 9, which has reached 50% completion.

The utility also highlighted that the gravity main to pump station 2 is halfway through its renovation, while pump station 10 is nearing completion at 95%.

Another progress noted was the successful completion of the collapsed sewer pipeline at Union Street in Vereeniging, which is 100% completed.

Mahlobo concluded the meeting by directing the Department of Water and Sanitation Provincial Head for Gauteng, Justice Maluleke and his team to ensure that real issues are captured and site visits take place at the specific areas and feedback given.

Source: South African Government News Agency

A 30-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at Ombuma village in the Onayena area in the early hours of Monday.

According to a crime report issued by the Namibian Police Force’s spokesperson for the Oshikoto Region, Inspector Ellen Nehale, the incident occurred around 02h00.

Nehale said Jonas Shikongo’s sister found his body hanging from a tree with a rope around his neck near their homestead.

“The body was transported to the Onandjokwe hospital mortuary for a post-mortem. No suicide note was found and no foul play is suspected,” he said.

Shikongo’s next of kin have been informed.

The police also reported that two people died in an accident between Ondangwa and Omuthiya in Friday.

A white GWM double cab with 10 occupants was reportedly headed to Omutsegonime village when its right rear tyre burst and the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing it to overturn.

“One person died on the scene while the other person died on the way to Onandjokwe hospital. One passenger who was seriously injured was transported to the Oshakati hospital and the rest were admitted to the Omuthiya hospital in a stable condition,” Nehale reported.

The next of kin of the deceased are informed.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Fatherlessness is predominantly the result of absence rather than death in numerous countries, including Namibia.

In such cases, men often fail to take responsibility for their children, either immediately after conception or after a collapse in marital relations, British High Commissioner to Namibia, Charles Moore, said during the high-level panel discussion on the theme ‘Fatherlessness in Namibia’ and how it affects both individuals and society.

The panel discussion, organised by the Hanns Seidel Foundation with the assistance of the British High Commission, took place in Windhoek last week.

Moore stated that fatherlessness is not just a problem for Namibia, but for the United Kingdom as well, where it is more likely that parental responsibility has been rejected, rather than fathers being absent because they choose to live and work away from home.

“Fatherlessness cannot be blamed on governments: it’s entirely our own fault. It’s about our own individual beliefs and experiences, often brought about by a change in society and tradition,” he said.

Meanwhile, James Itana, the Executive Director of the Regain Trust, said the emotional gap between fathers and their children could be attributed to the gap that arises at childbirth. Itana noted that men, particularly in traditional settings, are advised to remain on the sidelines while the mother spends the majority of the time with the newborns.

Itana said many Namibian men are unable to emotionally connect with their children because they have been denied the ability to do so since birth.

“It is essential to engage with the boy-child to try and shift the narrative that has been established that guys can’t be emotional with their children when they’re born, or that it’s the role of women to care for the child when they’re born,” he said.

He advocated open discussions about paternity leave and said men should not be driven out of maternal spaces because becoming a father is about more than just money.

“Men have been raised to assume fairly traditional views of what it means to be a father, so we must consider if parenthood is nature or nurture. This is a very important conversation that Namibians should have,” he said.

Sister Namibia Programme Coordinator Ndapwa Alweendo stated that while Namibia is not alone when it comes to the issue of fatherlessness and its challenges, access to data may be the most pressing worry.

“Often times, the data that does exist is quite difficult to acquire, making it extremely tough to deconstruct this very significant issue,” she said.

She shared Itana’s comments, noting that debates regarding fatherlessness should be placed in the appropriate context by having conversations about what it means to be a parent, as it entails much more than just having children.

The discussion was aimed at raising awareness of the severity of fatherlessness in Namibia and its effects on people and society, sharing information about institutions responsible for enforcing the law and protecting the rights of women and children, as well as to encourage discussion about aspects of Namibian culture that affect the family structure.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Officials involved in the Olifantspoort and Ebenezer upgrade project have been urged to move with speed in resolving water challenges.

Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, his deputy, David Mahlobo, as well as Polokwane Local Municipality Mayor Mosema Mpe echoed this sentiment during a meeting with Lepelle Northern Water in Pretoria.

The aim of Thursday’s meeting was to receive progress report on the Olifantspoort and Ebenezer upgrade project that is meant to address water challenges in the Capricorn and Sekhukhune Districts, Polokwane Local Municipalities and surrounding areas in Limpopo.

The project entails the refurbishment and upgrading of aging water infrastructure to meet the current water demands of the increasing population.

Phase 1A of the Olifantspoort and Ebenezer upgrades includes the refurbishment of the water scheme to function at full capacity of 114 m/l per day by October 2024. This is to be increased to 144 m/l per day by 2026, depending on the funding.

Meanwhile, phase 1b is aimed at increasing the capacity to 180 m/l per day by 2027. Phase 2 of the project is earmarked to increase production to 270 m/l per day by 2029.

“Giving marching orders to the officials from the department, Lepelle and Polokwane Local Municipality, Minister Mchunu said they need to revise the plans to implement the project and come up with workable solutions that will address the current challenges,” said the Department of Water and Sanitation.

Deputy Director-General responsible for Water and Sanitation Services, Risimati Mathye presented a12-point plan that is set to unlock challenges facing all stakeholders directly involved in the project.

These include amongst others, concrete partnership with Development Bank of Southern Africa, improved contract management, improved capacity, improved decision making and good governance.

Minister Mchunu implored all those involved in the project to take their work seriously with dedicated project managers to oversee the work done on the ground.

He asked for regular updates with clear timelines on when certain aspects of the project will be completed.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has emphasised that the agreements signed in the past week with Chinese state owned entities and the donation by the People’s Republic of China are to address this country’s emergency energy solutions.

South Africa concluded a significant amount of agreements with Chinese state owned entities (SOEs) with the signing of two overarching memoranda that were witnessed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Xi Jinping.

South Africa hosted the 15th BRICS Summit last week and the country also hosted President Xi on his fourth State Visit to South Africa ahead of the Summit.

Addressing the media on the Energy Action Plan on Sunday, Ramokgopa explained that the two agreements include amongst others, addressing issues of green energy solutions, exploitations of renewable energy sources and the use of modern technology.

“The two agreements – the first one addresses issues around green energy solutions- the partnership agreement we will be entering in relation to the exploitation of renewable energy sources in our country; the use of modern technology and the degree to which we are able to connect renewable energy onto the grid.

“The rationale for entering with the Chinese in this regard is because they are a dominant player on the renewable energy space. They have 688 gigawatts of installed capacity of renewables, a combination of PV and wind. They have done one of the biggest expansions of transmission and they have also worked on the kind of transmission modernisation required to be able to accommodate the intermittency of renewable sources,” the Minister said.

In regards to the donation by the People’s Republic of China, the Minister said this is aimed at addressing South Africa’s emergency energy solutions, which is targeted at key public facilities such as police stations, health institutions and correctional centres.

Minister Ramokgopa emphasised that provincial departments will play a role in identifying the key public areas.

“The second one, was an exchange of letters in relation to a donation that we are receiving from the People’s Republic of China that is meant to help us in addressing the emergency energy solution in the country.

“I did indicate that it’s likely going to be targeted in key public facilities such as hospitals, clinics, correctional services, and police stations. In this regard, we will be working with the nine provincial governments for them to be able to identify sites that are suitable for this.

“We already have a technical capacity that is supporting us in relation to the appropriateness of the technology solutions that are given to us and those that have been agreed upfront,” he said.

Ramokgopa further announced that the first shipment of the technology solutions by China is en route and an announcement will be made when it arrives in the country, having left Chinese shores on 14 August.

“We will announce at the right time when the first shipment lands and give an indication of the first public facilities that will benefit from this generous donation.”

Turning to the performance of the system for the past week, the Minister said that the available capacity has come down.

“I did indicate that we are beginning to normalise being above 28 000 megawatts on average. We have kept close to that most of the week and the average is about 27 561 megawatts,” he said.

“We did indicate that we were going to slow down planned outages and once we get out of a very difficult winter we are going to ramp up because we need to protect these machines, generation and units to ensure their sustainability and reliability going into the future.

“We still remain above 15 000 megawatts in relation to unplanned capacity lost factor. I made a point that we want to bring it down,” the Minister said.

Load shedding

On load shedding, Ramokgopa said government was confident the system was stabilising and the country will continue to have lower stages of load shedding as the system recovers.

“On the issue of performance, we are more that satisfied. We have shown where we moved from a historic low of 48% of energy availability factor. We have been averaging 60% energy availability factor.

“When we went to the winter period, the worst case scenario was Stage 8. We only had 30 hours of Stage 6. You can see the intensity of load shedding is coming down. The issues of outage slips, I have shown to you, they have come down from a high of 3 300 megawatts to 766 megawatts,” the Minister said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Makhotso Sotyu has called on all South Africans to do their part in keeping the environment clean and habitable.

“All South Africans have the responsibility to ensure that their environment is clean, green and habitable. Poor waste management poses health and environmental risks. Everyone can do something to attain clean-living spaces.”

The Deputy Minister made this call during a clean-up and greening activity in Bothaville in the Free State on Friday.

The Constitution of South Africa guarantees everyone the right of access to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being and to have the natural environment protected for the benefit of current and future generations.

She said the collaborative effort between the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and Lejweleputswa District and Nala Local Municipalities aims to emphasise the importance of active citizenry involvement in safeguarding natural resources and curbing waste pollution in communities.

“What we are doing here today epitomizes the Good Green Deeds programme, a ground-breaking Presidential initiative that seeks to mobilise all sectors of South Africa to become more environmentally conscious, leading to a deal for nature.”

The Good Green Deeds programme seeks to change people’s attitudes, behaviours towards responsible management of waste, and keeping their neighbourhoods clean, green and safe.

“This is a clarion call to all sectors in society to do their part to contribute to Good Green Deeds. Where there is litter, society is urged to work together to clear litter and rubble that threatens our efforts to build a healthy South Africa.”

She added that illegal dumping and littering are some of the most common problems in the country and affect all municipalities alike.

“The prevalence of ineffective waste management practices is being witnessed in many parts of the country. This trend, unfortunately, affects the well-being of communities, as it has indeed resulted in the mushrooming of pockets of illegal dumping and littering sites.

“More emphasis is required to ensure that citizens are mobilized to take a firm position against such activities in their respective communities.”

She said a departmental team working together with the provincial Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Lejweleputswa District Municipality and Nala Local Municipality, has spent the past few days conducting clean-up and greening activities at different identified spots in this municipality.

In-House Model

In addition to Friday’s clean-up, the Deputy Minister also handed over personal protective equipment (PPE) to the In-House Model participants to heighten the cleaning and greening programme.

“Through the environmental programmes, we have conceptualised the In-House Model which allows the department to implement and manage its projects using its own staff. This model enables the department to employ more Expanded Public works Programme (EPWP) participants due to ‘savings’ on project management fees. It enables the department to be in control and ensures timely payment of wages.”

The In-House model facilitates direct partnership with local government. In so doing, the department pays stipends, Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Compensation for Occupation Injuries and Diseases (COID) whilst the municipalities provide PPE, tools of trade and commit to pick up collected waste.

“I am pleased to announce that we have recruited 517 participants as part of the In-House Model to address service delivery and waste management in partnership with the Lejweleputswa District Municipality,” she said.

Source: South African Government News Agency