1. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), through the assessment of the municipality’s Water Services Development Plan (WSDP) and alignment to the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), has been monitoring the inclusion of projects related to water and sanitation services provision in informal settlements. The plans for Marikana are anticipated to be included in the 2022-2027 amended IDP which will be assessed by DWS in April 2025 and will be recommended as such.
The Department annually monitors the performance of the WSDP and implementation of water and sanitation projects. In the meantime, there is continued engagement with the City of Cape Town (CoCT) on the situation in Marikana and monitoring that the National Compulsory Norms and Standards in relation to interim water and sanitation services are being met by CoCT.
2. The constitutional responsibility for providing water and sanitation services rests with the local government. The role of DWS is to regulate how these services are provided, monitors, and supports municipalities providing water services and has a duty to intervene where national norms and standards are not met. In line with this mandate, DWS constantly monitors the implementation of access to water and sanitation services in informal settlements in accordance with the National Compulsory Norms and Standards to ensure that basic standards for provision are met.
DWS provides ongoing support to Water Services Authorities (WSAs) to ensure proper planning for the formalising of settlements and improvement of water and sanitation services provision. The planning and implementation of WSA led projects are subjected to the planning and procurement processes of WSAs. The Department can only commit to timelines where interventions in municipalities are funded by DWS grants which is not the case in the Marikana.
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