Public-private partnership to tackle water crisis - Mashatile

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According to Deputy President Paul Mashatile, this initiative aims to resolve the potential water crisis, similar to how it has successfully addressed the energy and load shedding crisis.

“We need to act before there is a crisis,” said Deputy President Mashatile on Tuesday.

Mashatile, in his capacity as Leader of Government Business in Parliament, was delivering a keynote address during the first Three-Sphere Planning session of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) of the seventh Parliament in Cape Town.

He informed Members of the NCOP that, through the District Development Model (DDM) in Waterberg, Limpopo, and with private sector involvement, government is implementing much-needed interventions to create opportunities for the community.

“In eThekwini, we have been resolving the water crisis to the extent that we are beginning to see much-needed changes in the functioning of the municipality."

Progress assessment

Together with the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Mashatile said they will be visiting Giyani to assess the state of progress in ensuring that people have water in that part of the province.

“This is going to be the modus operandi of the seventh administration because we want to ensure that we do not have a water crisis in the country. We need to go to these communities and resolve the problems.”

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However, the Deputy President is of the view that the success of the DDM lies in the speed of execution as a modus operandi, which should be adopted across the three spheres of government.

“We need to ensure that from the point of view of the Executive, we are entrenching the discipline of getting things done. In this regard, we are working on measures that will ensure the introduction of legislation by the Executive in Parliament is done timeously. Equally, we are ensuring that when Bills are introduced in the National Assembly, they must follow all the compliance processes so that the constitutionality of the proposed legislation is not compromised.”

The Deputy President believes this is an important task to avoid litigation.

Three-sphere planning

“Honourable Members, as we gather here today, we must ensure that we sharpen and crystallise a common understanding of the three overarching policy priorities of the seventh administration.”

The planning session is being held under the theme: "Establishing an Oversight Agenda for the Seventh Parliament: Defining Key Oversight Priorities for the NCOP in the Seventh Parliament".

Parliament’s strategic innovation emphasises joint and integrated planning, encouraging collaborative work in programme planning and implementation across government.

The session is aimed at ensuring that the NCOP institutionalises and implements a comprehensive three-sphere planning oversight framework and mechanism, in line with the constitutional mandate of promoting the principles of cooperative governance coordination.

Government believes this will enhance the effective implementation of key transformation priorities, in line with National Development Plan Vision 2030.