Water programme is in the pipeline for Zululand

Will the water problems plaguing the Zululand District soon be a thing of the past?
KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala announced a ‘water interventions programme’ during his recent State of the Province Address (SOPA).
Zikalala said the development of this plan sought to address water challenges in ‘hotspot areas’ over the next 18 months.
Zululand, uMzinyathi and Amajuba are among the six districts to benefit from this plan.
Zikalala said an amount of R84-million had already been transferred to municipalities to implement what he called a ‘quick win’ intervention to water stressed districts.
“As a long-term solution, we will by June 2020 conclude the Provincial Water Master Plan, which will outline sustainable interventions to achieve universal access to water in our province. We have identified dysfunctional infrastructure and deficiencies in operation and maintenance. Our findings will inform a remedial action plan and determine the cost of implementing the master plan.”

Also read: Community up in arms over water crisis

Zikalala also looked at the recently launched District Development Plan (DDM), which was deemed a ‘one plan, one budget approach’.
The DDM was launched in eThekwini late last year by President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
It looks at three spheres of Government and its development partners in the private sector, civil society and traditional leadership, to budget and implant developmental programmes with the district at the core of the process.
“To date, district profiles for all ten KZN districts have been drafted by CoGTA [Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs] and the Provincial Task Team, headquartered at the Office of the Premier, has been established to lead the alignment and integration process with the existing Operation Sukuma Sakhe,” explained the Premier.
Zikalala further announced new interventions focusing on job creation, enhancing the role of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), building requisite skills for future industries and social stability, and the fight against crime.
“The province has established the Job Creation War Room, which meets monthly and follows up on all projects in all sectors, unblocks challenges and re-prioritises where necessary, to ensure jobs are created in the province. We will have a renewed focus to support SMME development. This will entail training, incubation, finance and linkage to market port financing. We will also work with the Human Resource Development Council, where Government, academia and industry engage on channeling of students to skills required by the industry.”
Zikalala said those skills would focus on the growing industries such as green and ocean economies, and digital technology – an industry hailed as the backbone of the fourth industrial revolution.

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