3 November 2008

Last night on the TV programme 50/50, we were given the second part of the nightmare that our water provision is becoming:

Mining without proper regulation is polluting our water sources.

Sewage is flowing into our dams and rivers.  This water is being used for irrigation and contaminating our food crops. Our drinking water is under threat.

After 1994, provision had to be made for all the people of this country, not just the privileged communities.  That meant extending the water supply from limited resources.  What is needed is an infrastructure that is adequate to the demand but the  supply of water to previously disadvantaged communities, of necessity,  took precedence over infrastructure development.

We do not have the numbers of skilled people required to deal with the management of the water supply.  Many of our engineers and technicians are overseas, ministering to the needs of their new communities.

At present we have been plunged into political conflicts and forced into looking for heroes among corrupt politicians.  As ordinary citizens, we should not be blinded by all the claims of so-called democratic parties. ‘Democracy' has simply  become a catchword.  We should look for and vote for those whom we can trust to attend to vital infrastructure needs.  If we continue to vote for opportunistic politicians, we will condemn ourselves to the same kind of situation as in Zimbabwe where people are dying of cholera because sewage is now beginning to flow down roads.