School water tank programme becomes political hot potato

The department of human settlement, water and sanitation has delivered 7,645 water tanks to schools which had no water during and before lockdown in an effort to mitigate the spread of coronavirus in all nine provinces of the country.

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu briefed members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in parliament this week about measures taken by the department to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic in the country’s schools.

The department of education revealed on Sunday that since the return of Grade 7 and 12 pupils on 2 June, 740 teachers and 1,260 pupils were infected by Covid-19. The department said the numbers were expected to increase as pupils in Grade 6 and Grade 11 returned to class.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga also admitted that the provision of water, sanitation and other related personal protective equipment (PPE) could reduce the spread. On Tuesday, Sisulu told the NCOP that through its implementing agent, Rand Water, her department had delivered all the planned water storage tanks in schools across the country.

Sisulu said her department was now busy with the installation of the tanks at the schools. She told the NCOP that, according to the plan, all the tanks would be in use by mid-July.

Sisulu, who was flanked by the deputy ministers of human settlements, water and sanitation, Pam Tshwete and David Mahlobo, told the council the intervention was only temporary and that the storage tanks supplied to the schools would be transferred to municipalities, which are water service authorities.

She added that the municipalities would be expected to continuously fill the tanks for the communities after the Covid-19 pandemic interventions, until such time as permanent water delivery infrastructure was in place. According to the department, 615 tanks were delivered to the Western Cape, 329 to the Eastern Cape, 466 to the Northern Cape, 825 to North West, 520 to the Free State, 835 to Limpopo, 2 255 to Gauteng, 600 to Mpumalanga and 1 200 to KwaZulu-Natal.

But the delivery of the tanks was marred by controversy as the Democratic Alliance (DA) sought answers after several allegations were levelled against the department and Rand Water.

Two weeks ago, DA water and sanitation spokesperson and MP Leon Basson accused the department of supplying schools with water tanks that were of poor quality and sub-standard. Basson claimed the DA received numerous complaints from schools and communities saying the tanks received were not durable. He said one of the complaints was that the tanks either collapsed or burst when filled with water.

“The minister announced her plan to provide schools with water and water tanks in April. We have since received complaints from schools that the tanks delivered are of poor quality and often burst when filled with water,” he said.

“The DA would also like the department to urgently give clarity regarding the procurement process related to the R600 million tender, which was awarded to Rand Water to supply water tanks to schools across the country,” said Basson.

In response, spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said the department had signed a service level agreement with all service providers. He said part of the agreement was that they must deliver quality work and quality goods that would stand the test of time. He said any company which defaulted on the agreement would not be paid for the service rendered and would be required to rectify the mistake by delivering the right product as per the agreement.

“As for the procurement of the R600 million tender, we chose Rand Water looking at its track record to deliver five-star products. They also have the best cutting-edge equipment, which enables them and the department to do work with ease from near and afar,” he said.

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