The Department of Water and Sanitation, in partnership with Maquassi Hills Local Municipality, will host a workshop in Wolmaransstad to establish the Water and Sanitation Forum in the area on 19 August 2021.
The workshop will serve as a platform to establish a Water and Sanitation Forum and also empower forum members to actively participate in water and sanitation business processes so they are able to make informed decisions affecting water and sanitation services within communities served by the Maquassi Hills Local Municipality.
According to Ms Irene Molepo of the Department of Water and Sanitation, the workshop will provide a platform to raise awareness on the importance and need for change in attitude and behaviour regarding the use, protection, management, development and conservation of water resources by all South Africans.
“Through this workshop, we envisage to enhance understanding while promoting informed decisionmaking related to water services and water resource management,” said Molepo.
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Molepo highlighted the main purpose of establishing a Water and Sanitation Forum in the area as being to ensure a direct government interaction with different communities on issues that affect them on a daily basis, and also reduce the number of service delivery protests which are mainly due to a lack of communication and feedback.
“Through the establishment of a Water and Sanitation Forum, we envisage to promote a two-way flow of information about provision of reliable water and sanitation services to communities in terms of envisaged developments or plans, challenges and progress. We also aim to promote transparency on water and sanitation issues affecting different communities,” said Molepo.
Molepo added that the aim is to create an enabling environment for stakeholder participation and to encourage active participation of community members in water and sanitation matters through the forum.
Water and sanitation forums are established to ensure public participation in water management and sanitation provision. They also aim at easing communication and provision of reliable water and sanitation services information to communities regarding progress, challenges and envisaged developments in the water and sanitation business.
