Category: Educationn

It is indeed a great pleasure and honour to have you here today at this media briefing, and thank you for attending. The purpose of this briefing is to provide an update on amongst others, the Western Cape water supply, key water infrastructure projects to supplement water supply, enforcement and activities associated with National Water Month.

The Department has noted the sense of panic from the users regarding the decreasing dam levels, particularly the Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS). There is no need to panic as the water supply system is closely and continuously monitored, even though the dam levels have decreased by 55,5% compared to 77% during the same period in 2022.

Should the need arise, the Department and users will take urgent measures to safeguard water security. However Local Authorities have the discretion to impose water restrictions based on their respective water security dynamics at any given time.

The Department further encourages all water users to continue to save water and limit their large-scale usage especially in times of severe electricity loadshedding stages as the pumps treatment and bulk storage reservoirs are under stress and the flow is low. Water users, particularly high-end users, are urged to reduce their consumption.

South Africa is a water-scarce country and water security is further threatened as supply decreases due to the negative impacts on yield arising from climate change that puts additional pressure on the naturally stressed water resources in the country, including the Western Cape. This, no doubt, puts pressure on water availability, accessibility, quality, and demand.

The recent opening of the Brandvlei canal feeder is exciting news for DWS Western Cape. The benefits accrued from the newly upgraded Brandvlei Water Feeder Canal, include much-needed jobs through agri-business opportunities.

DWS continues to fund key infrastructure projects through various grants. A total of R3 billion has been budgeted by the department for the next three fiscal years to fund infrastructure, including Budget Facility Infrastructure (BFI) projects.

The Department is still committed to reinstating full construction operations of the raising of the Clanwilliam Dam wall and is finalising the last procurement steps for the specialised services required at the start of the remaining construction work. It is anticipated that all these processes are completed within March 2023 and have operations going in April 2023.

The Department, in collaboration / partnership with Local Authorities is jointly implementing Water Conservation, Water Demand Management (WCWDM) initiatives in different communities. These include public education campaigns, anti-vandalism campaigns etc. The Western Cape boasts low levels of non-revenue water compared to other provinces. By-laws pertaining to WCWDM are strictly enforced by the Department in collaboration with Municipal Law Enforcement officials.

Western Cape is flying the flag high in quality. This was evident when the honourable Minister Senzo Mchunu released the much-awaited National Green Drop awards which regulates waste water. Western Cape Scooped 12 of the 21 Nationwide Green Drop awards.

Following the release of the 2022 National Green Drop Report which focuses on Municipal Wastewater Quality Management, the Western Cape had seven local municipalities with 18 Wastewater Systems that scored less than 30% and thus deemed to be in a critical state. To date all seven municipalities have submitted corrective action plans which were reviewed by this Department, and progress is being closely monitored. A joint Section 154(1) Task Team has been established through a collaborative partnership with the Western Cape Department of Local Government and SALGA to facilitate support interventions where necessary to ensure improvement.

This year however is a “Blue Drop” year, focussing on drinking water quality management with the final report due to be published by the Minister later this year. All municipalities upload their available drinking water quality results on the Department’s Integrated Regulatory Information System (IRIS) for the Department to monitor compliance with the drinking water standards. IRIS also allows members of the public to view the quality of drinking water and waste water in their respective areas by visiting https://ws.dws.gov.za/IRIS/mywater.aspx(link is external)

Overall compliance in the Western Cape can thus be considered good. However, there are specific areas of concern that the Department monitors closely. The Department welcomes the public to serve as the “eyes and ears” of the regulator and inform the Department of any concerns related to drinking water and/or wastewater quality management within their municipal areas.

DWS Western Cape will continue fearlessly to enforce compliance with water use and it applies zero tolerance to water related crimes. However, DWS will be left with no choice but to impose hefty fines to those water users s who persist to act in an irresponsible manner.

Minister Senzo Mchunu places a high value on partnerships. This is evidence that government alone cannot reverse service delivery backlogs. Having the media as one of our primary partners in disseminating information is exciting

Government has declared the month of March as the National Water Month. The National Water Month coincides with the World Water Day, which is observed on 22 March every year by the United Nations. The theme for 2023 is “Accelerating Change”. The key objective of the National Water month is to Increase awareness on the use, management, conservation, development, and protection of water resources.

As part of National Water Month activities, the DWS Western Cape has planned (i) outreach to schools, (ii) visiting projects, (iii) recognition of water practitioners and (iv) compliance and enforcement initiatives.

“Water is Life, Sanitation is Dignity”

Source: Government of South Africa

Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Mr Buti Manamela, to give a keynote address and participate at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Gender Based Violence Research Indaba in Bellville Campus, Cape Town on Wednesday, 08 March 2023.

Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) is holding its first Research Indaba addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in higher education under the theme.

This Indaba is held under the theme “Crafting trends, patterns, and awareness intervention to combat GBV.”

The main purpose of the Indaba is to share lessons, strategies, interventions, practices and research agendas on:

Holistic, integrated, multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration on gender equality and women empowerment to combat GBV in higher education.

This includes evidence-based research and realist evaluation approaches aimed at developing GBV interventions to existing social problems in order to bring about social change.

This GBV Research Indaba also coincides with the International Women’s Day on 8th March 2023.

Source: Government of South Africa

The Hartbeespoort dam in South Africa used to be brimming with people enjoying scenic landscapes and recreational water sports. Now, the visitors are greeted to the sight of boats stuck in a sea of invasive green water hyacinth weed.

The spike in Harties - as Hartbeespoort is known - can be attributed to pollution, with sewage, industrial chemicals, heavy metals and litter flowing on rivers from Johannesburg and Pretoria.

"In South Africa, we are faced with highly polluted waters," said Professor Julie Coetzee, who has studied water hyacinths for over 20 years and manages the aquatic weeds program at the Centre for Biological Control at Rhodes University.

Nutrients in the pollutants act as perfect fertilizers for the weed, a big concern for nearby communities due to its devastating impact on livelihoods.

Dion Mostert, 53, is on the verge of laying off 25 workers at his recreational boat company after his business came to a standstill because of the carpet of water hyacinths.

"The boats aren't going anywhere. It's affecting tourism in our town... tourist jobs," Mostert said pointing towards his luxury cruise boat "Alba," marooned in the weeds.

He has considered using herbicides, but admits it would only be a quick fix against the weed.

Scientists and community members have, however, found a unique way to deal with the invasion by introducing a water hyacinth eating bug called Megamelus scutellaris.

The tiny phloem-feeding insects are the natural enemy to the plants, both are originally from the Amazon basin in South America, and are released by thousands at a time.

The insects destroy the weed by attacking tissue that transports nutrients produced in the leaves during photosynthesis to the rest of the plant.

The insect army has previously reduced the expanse of water hyacinths to a mere 5% on the dam, Coetzee said. At times the weed has covered at least 50% of it.

Environmentalist Patrick Ganda, 41, mass rears the bugs at Grootvaly Blesbokspruit wetland conservancy southeast of Harties, once home to more than a hundred species of birds which attracted a lot of tourists.

But now, unable to find food such as fish and small plants with much of the wetland's water covered in plants, there are only two to three species of birds left, he said.

Scientists warn that while the insects have been fairly successful in controlling the situation, more needs to be done to treat its cause, which authorities could tackle by tightening regulations on waste water management.

"We are only treating the symptom of a much larger problem," says Kelby English, a scientist at Rhodes University.

Source: Voice of America

Court hammers Codeta’s illegal blockade of learner transport

The Western Cape High Court today granted a final interdict against the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta), preventing them from obstructing, interfering, and stopping the transporting of learners within the Western Cape.

This is a victory for the parents and children of Khayelitsha and surrounds, who have been terrorised for weeks, with over 5 100 learners missing school at the height of the blockade.

The Court has sent a strong message to the minibus taxi mafia: there is no excuse for violating the constitutional rights of our children, or for putting parents in the terrible position of having to choose between their children’s education and keeping them safely at home.

It has also put an end to the hollow claims made by Codeta that they are somehow not involved in the criminal actions they announced that they were taking.

The Court has ordered:

That the respondent and its affiliated members are interdicted and restrained from obstructing, interfering and stopping the transportation of learners within the Western Cape;

That the respondent and its affiliated members are interdicted and restrained from issuing threats to the applicants, service providers, learners and members of the public to the effect that they (the respondent) will obstruct, interfere and stop the transporting of learner within the Western Cape.

We trust that the South African Police Service (SAPS) will ensure that the interdict is enforced, and that any further disruptions are prevented.

The respondents have also been ordered to pay costs, which we will pursue.

We thank all of our parents who stayed home from work to look after their children, who diligently collected work packs, who travelled on busses to make sure their children were safe, who created lift clubs in the absence of contracted learner transport, and who stood up to the minibus taxi mafia by demanding that their children be able to travel to school without harassment and interference.

We now encourage our parents to send their children back to school if they feel comfortable doing so, so that our teachers can determine how much work needs to be caught up and implement plans to do so.

Source: Government of South Africa

Government hosts post SONA media briefing of the Governance, State Capacity And Institutional Development (GSCID) Cluster

Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) will, on Thursday, 02 March 2023, host a virtual media briefing of the Governance, State Capacity and Institutional Development Cluster led by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Acting Minister of Public Service and Administration, Thulas Nxesi.

Following the delivery of the 2023 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), the briefing will outline areas that President Ramaphosa mentioned in his speech related to departments in the cluster.

Members of the media are invited to cover the briefing as follows:

Source: Government of South Africa