Water Conservation Campaign in Mogale City, Kagiso Township

South Africans must do more to save water. That’s the call from Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, as the country celebrated National Water Week from 15 to 21 March 2010. Water Week is an annual campaign that mobilises citizens to appreciate the value of water as a scarce natural resource. This year it focused on the importance of water conservation and demand management.

Other important objectives of the campaign are to educate the public about their responsibility in water conservation initiatives and to raise awareness around the need to protect and conserve the country’s water resources.  The campaign also highlights the contribution that water makes towards social and economic development.  The National Water Week campaign is another way of re-emphasising the important role water plays in sustaining all forms of life in South Africa and the linkages between water services, water resource management, water quality management and water conservation and water demand management.

The Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, visited Mogale City Municipality on 19 March to demonstrate to the Kagiso residents how to conserve water by fixing leakages in taps and sanitation facilities. The campaign was a joint initiative between the Department of Water Affairs and Mogale City Municipality under the theme “Together we can do more to save water”.

Boipelo Primary School in Kagiso Township, where the toilet facilities are severely damaged, was also visited. According to the school principal, Mr Matome Phoko, the school taps and sanitation facilities are sometimes vandalised by passers-by leading to heavy water losses. “As a no-fee school it becomes difficult to secure the services of the plumbers because the prices are sometimes very  high and the Department of Education also takes a long time to respond to the problem’ says Mr Phoko.

To support the municipality in carrying out water conservation and demand management,   the Deputy Minister handed over a cheque for R2 million to Mogale City. “I appeal to everyone, especially the politicians, checking of the leaks should be an ongoing thing, there is also a need to develop a checklist of how many leakages exist in the township” says Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi. 

Contact :

Hlengiwe Cele

Knowledge Dissemination Officer

012 330 9006

hlengiwec@wrc.org.za