Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has made an impassioned plea to the Western Cape provincial government, municipalities and other stakeholders to put political associations aside and to pay particular attention to improving the lives of people through sufficient water and sanitation provision.
He was speaking during a three-day working session in the Western Cape.
“The need to better the lives of our communities is paramount. It doesn’t matter which political parties we are affiliated to, ideally enhancing the lives of citizens of this country should override our political interests,” he said.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, meanwhile, stressed the need for more storage dams in the Western Cape since the province is prone to drought, particularly in the Little Karoo region.
“At the moment most of our dams are full, but we shouldn’t be oblivious and think that we are exempted from the dreaded Day Zero because we are of the view that we do not have enough dams,” he noted.
He added that water and sanitation challenges in the Western Cape are exacerbated by land invasions and illegal informal settlements. He said this was a big issue “that needs to be tackled smartly because we are unable to anticipate these growing trends and, as a result, we fail to plan for them”.