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AfriForum calls on Pemmy Majodina, Minister of Water and Sanitation, to urgently work with more than 5 000 registered civil engineers who work in the South African water infrastructure sector. This follows after it was revealed this week that the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) does not have enough inspectors to ensure that safety standards are met at nearly 6 000 dams. These dams are currently considered safety risks.

Majodina revealed these figures in response to a question from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation. According to AfriForum, there are thousands of engineers across the country who can be reached by DWS through professional bodies. However, these valuable engineering skills and knowledge are being lost at this stage due to the department’s restrictive procurement practices. Currently, contracts are awarded only to engineering firms instead of engaging registered, professional engineers individually.

AfriForum emphasises that intervention from the private sector is needed now more than ever to prevent further deterioration of public infrastructure and catastrophes such as the recent collapse of three dams on a farm in Riverlands near Malmesbury.

The DWS believes that the collapse is due to the dam owner’s non-compliance with legal safety standards, but according to Marais de Vaal, AfriForum’s advisor for Environmental Affairs, it actually reveals DWS’s crippling shortage of competent and professional technical staff.

‘The condition of infrastructure that has been built properly and according to standard does not deteriorate overnight, but with neglect it eventually reaches a tipping point after which it quickly – and possibly catastrophically – deteriorates. However, this requires proper monitoring to detect non-compliance and the DWS simply does not have the capacity to act as an effective regulator,” concludes De Vaal.

Issued by AfriForum