This is according to the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, whilst responding to a question that was posed to him by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) member, Sibuyiselwe Angela Buthelezi. Buthelezi wanted to know which provinces were affected by the water and sanitation crisis nationally.

Mchunu stated that the sanitation access services in North West are less than 68.8%, while the Free State stands at 82.3% and the Northern Cape at 83.9%.

He adds that the North West is one of the provinces that is below the national average of 82.1% when it comes to issues of sanitation access services.

Mchunu further explains that in an effort to remedy these challenges, the department will be submitting a National Sanitation Framework (NSF) to Cabinet for approval.

He states that the framework seeks to revise the national norms and standards for sanitation and provide for equitable sanitation provision across all settlement types, strengthen monitoring and compliance to the standards, and sets out measures to improve service delivery such as support in various forms to address service delivery lapses.

In his reply, Mchunu also added that the department is currently in the process of planning and implementing a range of major projects to augment national bulk water resource infrastructure, and is also in the process of establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) to finance and implement the large-scale investments in national water resource infrastructure that are required to ensure that the country has sufficient water supply now and in future.

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