Premier calls on communities to use water sparingly to prevent impending ‘water wars’
The Premier, Stanley Chupu Mathabatha focused on the issue of water usage during the Exco Budget Lekgotla last week
LIMPOPO – The Exco Budget Lekgotla was held at Bolivia Lodge in Polokwane last week under the theme: Growth, Sustainability and Renewal.
Mathabatha spoke on the issue of water usage and called on communities to use the limited water resources sparingly and put a stop to water wastage.
“The Department of Water and Sanitation already warned that water restrictions could be applied in efforts to conserve the little water that remain in our dams. The reality is that we are heading in the direction of a water war.”
He said this meant increased competition among communities for the little available water.
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“The drought is a reality, a direct product of both the phenomenon of climate change and the reality of an increasing population. We already see tension between communities and businesses over the privatisation of water services.
“We cannot afford to choose between water for human consumption and water for commercial use. The usage of water by farmers is as important as household water consumption,” Mathabatha said.
Mathabatha added that water wastage was taboo and that everyone was responsible to put a stop to it.
“We also need to promote alternative usage of water such as grey water. Let us take this issue of water conservation seriously.
“We must learn the practice of using water efficiently to reduce unnecessary water usage. We urge our municipalities to provide leadership in this regard.”
He said there is a need to renew efforts towards the growth and sustainability of the economy.
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“We need to urgently grow this economy. For us to do this we need to adopt a sustainable fiscal path. I know that there is no need to motivate anyone here about the reason why we need a sustainable fiscal path as a province.
“We rely on your intellectual resources, your knowledge and experience. You should be the first to embrace and champion the urgency of a prudent fiscal policy which is able to respond to our developmental objectives.
“A fiscal policy that is able to assist in ending poverty, that addresses the question of unemployment and bridges the gap of inequality is what’s needed,” he said.
He warned politicians that their strategic planning meetings should never be reduced to talk-shows.
“Resource allocation always follows the work that you would have done in those planning meetings. If your planning is not up to scratch, it would mean that resource allocation will be misdirected. Our collective task is to ensure that our prudent fiscal policy is supplemented by planning based resource allocation.
“We are called upon to ensure that our budgets are aligned and are able to speak to the urgency of ensuring better delivery of services to our people. We should do this in the spirit of excellence and nothing else,” he said.
Mathabatha said they are called upon to help the provincial administration to navigate out of the hostilities of the current national economic outlook.
“We must perfect the art of doing more with less. We know that there will not be any additional income for us from the fiscus. Our budgetary processes should assist us to expand the productive capacity of the economy and to create jobs for our people. We should use the limited resources at our disposal to ensure that we expand our health care infrastructure and provide primary health care services to all our people,” he concluded.
