Ongoing Vaal Sewage Pollution Budget Discussions in Tshwane

 
By Craig Kotze
Major roleplayers in the clean-up of the Vaal’s ongoing sewage pollution drama last week met with the National Treasury in Tshwane to further streamline budgetary and managerial elements of the multi-departmental project.
At the centre of deliberations is not only funding infrastructure refurbishment, but also the need to sustain ongoing management and maintenance and prioritising funding for that sustainability factor, according to experts close to the process.
“Perhaps there is a real need to recalibrate to include sustainable maintenance and management and not only primarily on narrow refurbishment,” according to one expert who spoke with Vaalweekblad on condition of anonymity.
Last week’s meeting follows a site visit by a high-powered National Treasury delegation to the Vaal region the week before to ascertain the situation first-hand on the ground on the state of the Vaal River itself.
It was attended by Emfuleni Executive Mayor Gift Moerane and acting Municipal Manager Oupa Nkoane as well as by representatives of the SA National Defence Force, ERWAT and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), according to sources familiar with the project.
Government sources close to the process told Vaal Weekblad that although excellent work had been done by the SA Army on fixing infrastructure to date, the full scale of the challenge needed to be realised not only in budgetary terms but in sustainable management and maintenance capacity of the entire system.
Key administrative issues also had to be addressed before the full weight of the multi-departmental and disciplinary project could be deployed, funded and sustained on an ongoing basis for maximum effect.
“This is of course not a Defence issue alone – as valuable as our SANDF colleagues undoubtedly are – but a complex issue requiring scientists and engineers and managerial capacity even more than money.
“So perhaps putting CAPEX (capital expenditure) ahead of OPEX (operational expenditure) is not ideal when we should be talking about getting the workshops going to ensure that the pumps, motors etc can be maintained and operational on a daily basis,” said one Government expert.
The Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) has urged roleplayers to clarify the status, focus and budgetary elements of the clean-up project as soon as possible to all stakeholders.
“It is vital that public trust in the process be grown even further and that especially local stakeholders be closely involved in decision-making processes,” said GTCoC President Stefan Olivier.