Free basic water reaches 27m

2002-07-01 17:28

Cape Town - A programme to provide a basic amount of free water to every household in South Africa has now reached an estimated 27 million people, Water Affairs Minister Ronnie Kasrils announced on Monday.

In a statement issued to mark the first anniversary of his department's "free basic water" policy, he said a total of 239 municipalities were now implementing the scheme.

The programme aims to provide every household in the country with a free basic water allowance of 6 000 litres a month; those using more are charged only for the amount over and above this basic allowance.

Kasrils said a further 12 million people lived in areas where, although they had access to infrastructure, their local municipalities had not yet started the scheme.

"The reason for this is a lack of capacity and management systems, and, in some rural areas, financial constraints," he said.

His acting chief director of water services, Helgaard Muller, on Monday said the department hoped to clear this backlog "within the next three to four years".

He stressed that implementing the programme was not solely Water Affairs' responsibility, but depended on action by the municipalities themselves.

Kasrils said there were also seven million mainly rural South Africans who lived in areas "where there is currently no infrastructure for the supply of water".

"At the current expenditure levels, we expect to wipe out this backlog by 2008," he said.

The percentage of people in each of South Africa's nine provinces now receiving a free basic water allowance is:

Limpopo: 40%;

Eastern Cape: 45%;

Northern Cape: 54%;

Mpumalanga: 59%;

North West: 66%;

Free State: 87%;

KwaZulu-Natal: 90%;

Gauteng: 92%; and,

Western Cape: 100%.

- SAPA