Water boards to be reviewed to enhance service delivery

IN a bid to enhance service delivery of water and sanitation in the country, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu said the country’s water boards are to be reviewed.

Mchunu said the decision to look at the functionality of the water boards is to ensure a continued and close partnership with municipalities as water service authorities.

“We are also reviewing our own legislation in terms of empowering us and making interventions – down to the ground – to make sure water gets delivered. Municipalities complained that they do not have capacity to deliver water and sanitation services, although they would like to,” Mchunu said.

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Mchunu noted the balance of equity between water and sanitation has not been reached.

“We have not been focusing equally on sanitation as we have been doing for water and, now, sanitation needs to be upgraded in terms of our attention. The main thing is to bring water to households and then, in the process, you are able to deal with matters of sanitation,” he said.

Mchunu announced that the ministry is currently working on a sanitation framework for the country.

“We don’t commonly have adopted norms and standards that everybody must adhere to, and that will be the content of the sanitation framework,” he said.