Popular South African newspaper The Sunday Times recently ran a story on its online portal claiming that “South Africans should prepare to pay more for water,” citing Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Minister Nomvula Mokonyane as saying, “South Africans need to understand that water doesn’t come cheap and will soon start paying more for it.”
While it’s certainly true that numerous local water professionals have pointed out the benefits of raising water prices to encourage citizens to value water more appropriately, the Department is not going to raise water prices suddenly over the Festive Season. Sputnik Ratau, director of media liaison at the DWS clarified the water tariff increase story saying, “Increased prices are not assured, there is still a process of consultation which needs to ensue before a decision will need to be taken.”
Consultative process
Ratau explains, “We are currently entering into a consultative process which will review the Department’s current water pricing strategy as well as norms and standards. This is not being done in reacting to the current drought conditions; it is an established process which takes place at regular intervals.” He went on to assure
Water&Sanitation that free basic water will not be affected by these discussions as it is a Constitutional issue.
Stakeholder engagement
“We will not be relaying from inputs from just a few stakeholders for the consultative process but will be accepting inputs from across the board. Apart from going into communities to discuss these issues the Department also invites submissions from all sectors of South Africa on their thoughts and feelings about this issue,” says Ratau. Whether or not water process will in fact increase will be established in either January or February next year, according to the Department.
