Minister Molewa’s Budget Speech 2012 for DWA: Water security, service delivery, enforcement and legislative review

A budget vote speech delivered by Minister Edna Molewa on 14 April 2011, outlining the Department of Water Affairs' strategy to increase water availability for economic growth and job creation in South Africa. The speech details major infrastructure projects, water security measures, regulatory frameworks for water quality, and plans for legislative review to prevent water hoarding.

• The Department of Water Affairs identifies freshwater scarcity as a significant threat to economic growth, energy generation, and food security, noting that South Africa will likely exceed its economically usable land-based water resources by 2050.
• Several large-scale infrastructure projects are underway to augment water supply, including the Mokolo and Crocodile River West project (costing approximately R2 billion for Eskom's Medupi power station and Lephalale local municipality), the Spring Grove Dam in KwaZulu-Natal (R2.2 billion contract), and the De Hoop Dam (estimated total cost of R3.1 billion to serve three million Limpopo residents).
• To address water security, the government is implementing desalination plants in the Western Cape (including facilities in Sedgefield, George, Mosselbay, and Bitou) and developing a strategy to exploit underground water resources, with a specific focus on monitoring Acid Mine Drainage.
• The department is utilizing 'Blue Drop' and 'Green Drop' Certification programmes to manage drinking water and wastewater quality. This includes the Wastewater Risk Abatement Planning (W2RAP) process, which is being applied in the Hartbeespoort Dam Catchment area and several cities including Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Mogale City, and Randfontein.
• Enforcement against water transgressions has increased, with the number of Water Management Inspectors rising to 21. The department has issued 141 pre-directives and 26 directives, and it estimates that 244 cubic meters of water per annum are used unlawfully in the Vaal river system alone.
• A legislative review is planned for the financial year to address 'water entitlement' and prevent the hoarding of water resources. The goal is to create a legal framework that allows for the reallocation of water to critical economic sectors and new human settlements.

APA

Molewa, E. (2011). Minister Molewa’s Budget Speech 2012 for DWA: Water security, service delivery, enforcement and legislative review. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/news/minister-molewas-budget-speech-2012-for-dwa-water-security-service-delivery-enforcement-and-legislative-review

Chicago

Molewa, Edna. Minister Molewa’s Budget Speech 2012 for DWA: Water security, service delivery, enforcement and legislative review. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2011. https://cer.org.za/news/minister-molewas-budget-speech-2012-for-dwa-water-security-service-delivery-enforcement-and-legislative-review.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Molewa |first1=Edna |title=Minister Molewa’s Budget Speech 2012 for DWA: Water security, service delivery, enforcement and legislative review |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=20 April 2011 |url=https://cer.org.za/news/minister-molewas-budget-speech-2012-for-dwa-water-security-service-delivery-enforcement-and-legislative-review |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{molewa2011minister, author = {Molewa, Edna}, title = {{Minister Molewa’s Budget Speech 2012 for DWA: Water security, service delivery, enforcement and legislative review}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2011}, month = apr, url = {https://cer.org.za/news/minister-molewas-budget-speech-2012-for-dwa-water-security-service-delivery-enforcement-and-legislative-review}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }