/ 27 May 2008

Fighting talk from new water chief

The new director general of water affairs and forestry, Pam Yako, threatens to apply “tough love” to water wasters and polluters, both in the public and private sectors.

One month after her appointment, Yako has come out fighting — promising she will target water-guzzling operators, including in the mining and forestry industries, in an attempt to prevent water becoming as critically threatened a resource as energy.

“We have to stake our claim. The department’s mandate is to look after the resource, so they are going to have to listen to us,” she said in an exclusive interview with the Mail & Guardian.

Developers will also have to get used to the idea that the department might need to block them. “Planning decisions by other sectors need to take into account that the resource is limited and that it is costly to make water available.”

In her previous portfolio, as director general of environmental affairs and tourism, Yako was well aware that aquatic ecosystems are in the worst shape of all South Africa’s natural systems. The National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment published last June showed that 82% of the country’s 120 major river systems are threatened, with 44% critically endangered.

If developers want the government to take their needs seriously, they will have to take the limits on environmental resources into account, she said.

“We will say no to developers, if necessary. We must claim back the leadership space. If people criticise us and say we are blocking development, it’s not ideal, but at least we are looking after the resource.”

Her plans include giving teeth to a water policing force, similar to the environment department’s “green scorpions”, to deal with polluters, illegal connections and industries operating without water licences. Details of planned compliance and enforcement interventions will be presented to Parliament during her minister’s budget vote speech on May 23.

There will be no more “lovey-dovey” towards authorities that fail to ensure water provision and quality. She spoke to the M&G from the Eastern Cape, after a two-day visit to the Ukhahlamba district where 78 babies reportedly died after drinking contaminated tap water.

“Enough is enough — business cannot continue as usual,” she said. “My department will still play a supportive role for municipalities, but it will exercise its muscle as the primary regulator of water quality.”

The department is in the process of setting up a Water Resources Infrastructure Agency, similar to Eskom, which will amalgamate staff from the department and the state-owned Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority. Its task will be to provide bulk infrastructure, as opposed to water services, which are a municipal function.

Yako said she and Minister Lindiwe Hendriks want to start a public debate about whether there are already too many water agencies — including 19 catchment authorities, 15 water boards and numerous users’ associations.

“My personal feeling is that we are not very strong on oversight and that it would be better to have fewer. It’s very easy to set up institutions, but we don’t always capacitate them and so, even with the best intentions, they struggle to do what they are meant to do.”

Her first task was to get to grips with internal organisational chaos that has seen the department receive qualified audits from the auditor general for the past three years. She separated the department’s main and trading accounts, appointed a new accounting officer to improve financial management and ordered a report on fixed assets that is due to be presented to her this week.

“It won’t be easy to sort things out, but I am confident that by March 31 2009 we should have a clean, unqualified audit,” she said.

The department has gone through various restructuring operations in the past six years, causing uncertainty, but there are still lots of skilled people in the team.

“The biggest problem has been pulling them together and leading people forward — showing them that there is somebody to fight their battles. This will be my role.”