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Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister Dikeledi Magadzi says partnership between the private, public and civil society organisations is key towards bringing local and international investors to invest in water infrastructure development.

DM Magadzi gave the keynote address at the 7th Annual Water Stewardship event, under the theme; “Water Stewardship in Action: A journey to economic recovery”, which was jointly hosted with Strategic Water Partners Network (SWPN) on Tuesday, 23 November 2021.

She says this year’s theme came at the appropriate time as the entire is world is still reeling from the effects of COVID-19.

DM Magadzi says the pandemic has exposed the fact that access to running water is still a pipe dream to most communities, especially the far-flung rural and highly densified ones.

“This pandemic has taught all of us the importance of access to safe and reliable water, and the responsibility we have as private, public and civil society organizations, to learn from our experience over the past nineteen months to innovate and build stronger systems to ensure access to water for all our people”, said the Deputy Minister.

She adds that collaborations will bring investments into the country which will in turn ensure water security and importantly support small, medium and micro enterprises, enabling economic growth.

DM Magadzi, however, acknowledges that investments alone will not solve all the water and sanitation challenges in South Africa.

“We require strong water governance that could stand the test of time,” Magadzi said. “We require strong systems and institutions to drive effective water resources management and expand access to water and sanitation services. We require good water governance that would allow sustainable good quality water supply that, in turn, would give us an upper hand in case of any future pandemic.”

She further called on farmers to exercise responsible water use as the sector is the largest user of surface and underground water.

“Water Stewardship is everyone’s business. I therefore call upon all corporates that are still not members of the Strategic Water Partners Network to sign up and play their part on the sustainable and responsible use of our precious resource.  To those that are members of the platform, let us do more for the SWPN by pledging more financial, human and technical support to keep the fire burning. I also appeal to civil society organizations, different communities and other stakeholders to play their part in understanding the economic and social value of water, including linkages with sustainability and economic security,” DM Magadzi concluded.

Issued by Department of Water and Sanitation