Consequence management now essential to ‘give teeth’ to HRC findings on water crisis – AfriForum.
Effective consequence management in South Africa’s municipalities is now essential, according to AfriForum, in response to the large-scale deterioration of water and sanitation service delivery that the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) revealed this week in a submission to the parliamentary portfolio committee on Water and Sanitation. AfriForum’s experience of deterioration is consistent with the HRC’s findings, but the civil rights organisation warns that mechanisms to hold underperforming municipalities to account – even in cases where court orders have been issued to remedy serious problems such as sewage dumping – currently appear to be ineffective.
According to Marais de Vaal, AfriForum’s advisor for Environmental Affairs, the application of consequence management, which includes, among other things, the establishment and monitoring of processes and mechanisms to manage compliance with legal obligations, must be done in the interest of accountability.
AfriForum welcomes the HRC’s investigation into the violation of human rights on access to clean water and a healthy environment due to the lack of water and sanitation service delivery in large parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State. Problems identified include, among others, a lack of knowledge and technical skills in the management of water and sewage infrastructure; insufficient investment in the maintenance of infrastructure; poor financial discipline; the disregard for legal obligations; and the role played by corrupt officials and the water mafia in the theft and sabotage of infrastructure.
However, the organisation maintains that the oversight role that the provincial and national government is supposed to play is ineffective because it does not impose any consequences on underperforming municipalities.
