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We celebrate National Water Week in South Africa
from the 17-23 March with a deep realisation of the role that water
must play in achieving the vision of a prosperous South Africa. It
is a week that sees us launch the International Year of Freshwater
in South Africa as well as coinciding with the Third World Water
Forum in Japan. With the theme "Water is our future", this year's
celebrations focuses on protecting and respecting the country's
water resources. It is a call to all people living in South Africa
to maintain and improve the quality and quantity of freshwater
available for current and future generations.
This call to action comes at a time when the availability of clean
water is one of the most important issues facing our country -
some 6 million people living in South Africa still do not have
access to safe clean water while nearly 16 million are still without
adequate sanitation. The continuous pollution of rivers and streams
as well as the growing future demands for water calls for all those
living in South Africa to re-assess their attitudes to our vital
water resources. This comes at a time when the United Nations has
indicated that water use in the 20th century has grown at twice the
rate of the population. It comes at a time in South Africa when
access to clean, safe water and water-borne diseases continue to
threaten the health and quality of life for many.
Beginning with the Water Week celebrations, the Department is
focusing on moving beyond simply raising awareness to that of
focusing on current and future challenges in order to ensure a
better quality of life for present and future generations. The
increasing demands, pollution, changing climatic patterns as well as
the challenge of ensuring that everyone has access to water and
sanitation services creates a need for a concerted effort by all to
maintain and improve the quality and quantity of water in South
Africa.
Our goal for the week and the year is to inspire actions in meeting
these challenges. As in the past years Government, communities,
non-governmental organisations, youth groups, business, industry and
the media will be playing active roles in highlighting on local,
regional, national and international issues. The intention is to
achieve the following:
- Working towards eradicating the backlog with regard to water and
sanitation services
- Ensuring the cleanliness and integrity of our water
resources
- Ensuring long term sustainability of our water resources
- Highlighting the crucial link between water and health with the
objective of preventing water-borne diseases
- Empowering communities, especially women and children, in
managing and improving their living conditions
- Ensuring access to water resources for economic development
- Developing an aware and responsible South African society.
Our efforts during the week are not just limited to South Africa.
Following the Presidents call to make this the African Century, we
have focused considerable attention on addressing the water needs in
Africa. We have taken an active role in promoting NEPAD, and as such
will be strongly represented at the Third World Water Forum from the
16-22 March in Kyoto, Japan. We will be monitoring commitments made
at the Johannesburg Summit and discussing strategies for
implementation.
Our participation at the Third World Water Forum is not about
presenting papers, it is about sharing our experiences and best
practices with the rest of the water world and learning from them. A
priority for us will be to promote dialogue and interaction with the
numerous participants and in doing so contribute to finding
solutions to Africa's and the worlds water problems.
As we contribute at the international stage in Japan, I will like to
encourage all South African's to focus on the need to restore and
preserve the integrity of this precious resource, water. We must
take responsibility to make sure this scarce resource is managed in
an effective and sustainable manner.
Two key national events during this period will be the Baswa le
Meetse Awards (Youth in Water Awards) and the Women in Water Awards.
These awards are part of the ongoing programme of the Department to
acknowledge the role of women and the youth as well as focus on how
water can transform the lives of children and women.
The Women in Water Awards highlight and promote the participation of
professional and community-based women in water resource management.
It also acknowledges the key role that women play in poverty
eradication, education and other related issues around resource
management and sustainable development in both the urban and rural
contexts.
The Baswa le Meetse Award (Northern Sotho for Youth in Water) will
be awarded to learners who produce and convey inspiring educational
messages to the public about water and sanitation through theatre
and arts (drama, cultural music, poems and praise singing). Baswa le
Meetse forms part of the National Water Week activities from 2003
and it is envisaged that it will be an annual competition.
Activities during the week will also focus on increasing the
awareness of South Africa's "blueprint for survival", the
National Water Resource Strategy (to finalised in June after
intensive consultations) which has demonstrated that it is possible
to meet the water needs of the increasingly prosperous South Africa
which we are building if we use our resources wisely.
The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry sees 2003 as the year
that all people living in South Africa focus their attention on
protecting and respecting our water resources. A year in which we
raise the importance of water in our quest to build a better life
for all.
Let us join forces, as in the past few years, and celebrate the
successes, as well as re-commit ourselves to finding solutions for
the challenges.
Ronnie Kasrils, MP
Water Affairs and Forestry
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