Chairperson, I agree with the hon member. We have to do everything in our power to reduce or remove constraints for our people. If part of that constraint is ensuring that we remove or at least reduce amounts of money which have to be paid for these services, we will gladly do that. I do think that our conversation with the Department of Home Affairs in the long term and in a broader perspective will not only look at
this particular issue that the member is raising, but will also look at all other areas in which we can reduce the pressure on our people, especially with an understanding of the fact that many of them do not have jobs and have little money with which to cover education costs, health costs and many other things.
So, I fully agree with the member and say to the hon member that it is our intention to have continued discussions around what it is that we can do to remove the pressure, especially financial pressure, from the most vulnerable. Thank you.
Question 244:
The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION: In answer
to the question that was asked by the hon Basson, the nature of the problem that we have in Emfuleni municipality was brought to the national consciousness when the Minister of Finance in his Budget Vote allocated the bulk of the work to the SA National Defence Force, SANDF. Since then we have taken over and made sure that we appoint a service provider to deal with this matter.
As you will know, this problem has serious consequences for all of us. When the intervention was brought in with the introduction of the services of the SANDF, 44 pump stations were not working, and
up until now - in the work that we have done, we have made sure that seven pump stations are working and 24 are operational. We are working very hard on this matter. We have a combination of ourselves, and we have the Rand Water assisting us and the municipality working on this matter.
We have since made sure that we give this responsibility to Ekurhuleni Water Care Company, Erwat, because we think that they have the specialty to deal with this matter. The amount of money that will be required to ensure that this work is done and completed in time for us to be able to use this facility efficiently is R1,1 billion. Emfuleni municipality had come to ask for our support because they did not have expertise nor did they have the necessary resources to deal with the problem.