Government is hard at work to develop solutions that enable effective, appropriate and environmentally sustainable removal of human waste, says Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Addressing the National Sanitation Indaba which last week, the Deputy President said the country is becoming more innovative in the use of natural resources.

“Through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer programme, South Africa is emerging as a leader in the use of wind and solar power for electricity generation.

“Many in our country are desperate for safe, reliable and private sanitation. There are lessons in this programme for how we conserve water and how we manage waste,” the Deputy President said.

He also highlighted that South Africa has done well to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of the population without basic sanitation well before the target of 2015, however, a lot of work still needed to be done.

“The statistics show that our country has been increasing access to sanitation. But the pace of delivery remains a concern,” he said.

The purpose of the Indaba is to showcase the practical demonstration of cutting edge appropriate sanitation technologies that can be implemented in South Africa and Africa.

Not all about flushing

The Deputy President emphasised that the Sanitation Indaba is not all about flushing, warning that if they continue to use the old flushing methods the country is placing huge pressure on its scarce water resources and the environment into which people flush their waste.

He commended the Department of Water and Sanitation for taking the lead through a technology fair and summit, adding that it will go a long way in generating awareness, stimulating innovation and promoting greater usage.

“We need to generate new sanitation solutions that are sustainable and will meet the country’s current and future needs. It [the indaba] will help to challenge conventional notions about sanitation and dispel concerns about the efficacy and reliability of new technology.

“We must acknowledge that sanitation is not merely about engineering, it is also about psychology, culture and social expectations. Unless we address the human side of sanitation provision, we will struggle to implement even the most innovative of solutions,” he said.