WISA 2020 • #ALLHANDSONDECK
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“Having 144 WSAs to me does not make sense, especially when the MuSSA shows that many of them are not viable.” Neil Macleod
pointed out that municipalities, which are the face of water and sanitation, are contributing to an incapable state. The 2018 Municipal Strategic SelfAssessment (MuSSA) paints a desperate picture of the state of local government, which resultantly struggles to attract skilled professionals. The MuSSA showed that 40% of water services authorities (WSAs) are extremely vulnerable, 38% are highly vulnerable, and only 6% are functioning properly. Some did not even realise how vulnerable they were, and most are heavily dependent on capital funding from national government. More than half of WSAs collect less than 70% and have high levels of nonrevenue water. “Behind all of this is the fact that the management capacity is just not there,” said Macleod, echoing Lawless’ sentiment. He stressed the need to have older experts to mentor and train young professionals to create efficiencies and the environment that is needed. In addressing corruption, Macleod was encouraged by Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s recent announcement that people who hold office in political structures can no longer work for local government. “That is the first small step, but we need far more severe actions to create the separation between political oversight and executive management.” Macleod stressed the need to create viable institutions. “Having 144 WSAs to me does not make sense, especially when the MuSSA shows that many of them are not viable.” He argues that we should consider cutting the number of WSAs to
50 or fewer and locate their head offices in towns where people want to live. Lastly, he emphasised a need for management contracts to bring in the private sector to create systems and train staff, as was done at Johannesburg Water, which was turned around in under five years. “We need to do things differently,” he stressed.
The new model
Dhesigen Naidoo, CEO, Water Research Commission (WRC), pointed out the need to think about future human capital in a different way. Although there has been a decrease in expertise, Naidoo believes the increase in the number of young people entering the sector is very positive in that they have a newer view of the world and how the future economy should operate. “There needs to be an injection of mentorship, and there are models that show us how this can work,” he said. In 2011, around 70% of the WRC’s projects had leaders who were older white males. Today, this has shifted to 80% previously disadvantaged individuals without altering any of the quality criteria. “We just made a much higher investment in capacity building and training, and we brought in the older folk to be mentors in the system. It’s working really well,” said Naidoo. He also identified a need for a vastly expanded water team that extends beyond technical and scientific knowledge to include behavioural, social and financial acumen to organise water security into the future.
The master plan
Trevor Balzer, acting director general, Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), J A N /F E B 2021
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