23rdEdition
A weekly newsletter from the office of the CEO
The week that has passed witnessed a full swing of the Inkomati Catchment Management Agency. We saw:
- On Tuesday the World Bank and the Government of Zambia visiting our institution.
- The Dutch Governing Board Training starting on Wednesday ending on Thursday.
- On Friday the Governing Board approving the Business Plan for submission to the DWAF.
- The schools competitions reaching the anti-climax as the preparations of the world water week start to glare on us.
Acknowledging the challenges the Government of Zambia is faced with, Advocate CJ du Preez said:
“This people really need help. They are starting to prepare the development of their national water act and they need serious support. They neither have catchment management agencies nor water user association. Unlike Zimbabwe, Zambia really needs help. It will be good to partner with them in their effort”.
Our 2008-2009 Strategic Business Plan says:
“Since its inception in 2005, the Inkomati Catchment Management Agency governing board has sought to position the Inkomati CMA as the best performing public entity in the country and beyond.”
It further says:
“The country (South Africa) plays an important role in the New Partnership for Africa Development. In line with this and considering that we are the first CMA in the country, we need to position the ICMA to lead the way in assisting in the development of Africa specifically in water resource management. In the past financial year, the institution has been able to build relations (albeit informal) with Maji Na Ufanisi (Water and Development Institution) in Kenya. Besides this one, the ICMA may need to further, in the course of the year, identify a poor country in the continent which has got water resource challenges and start cooperation with”.
Towards the end of the meeting, a report was given to the Governing Board concerning the visit by the two delegations. In line with our draft Strategic Business Plan, the Board approved that we will start cooperation with this country. Of course, the protocols necessarily to get this arrangement in motion will have to be adhered to.
Zambian Rivers
Zambia has plenty water and most of the rivers are unpolluted. Some of the rivers constituting the life blood of Lusaka and the other towns are:
- chambeshi 6. luanginga 11. lunga river
- kabompo 7. luangwa 12. lungwebungu
- kalambo 8. luapula 13. lunsefwa
- kafue 9. luena 14. mbereshi
- kalungushi 10. lukasashi 15. mulungishi
Generally the soils are good and rich.
Starting a relationship with TSB
Immediately after lunch on Tuesday, we took off to TSB where we were supposed to have a meeting with Mr. Martin Slabbert of TSB. We have realized that our relationship with TSB had not grown to the required level. As it is popularly known, agriculture uses about 83% of the water of the catchment. It further creates about 70% of the jobs in the WMA. In this regard, we need to ensure that there is a good relationship between us and the largest consumer of our water.
Taking advantage of this matter, we highlighted to TSB that we support the building of a dam in the Crocodile. We have further taken note of the efforts put to realize this goal. As InkomaziMunicipality experiences serious water shortages, we raised the matter for discussion. We felt it important for the ICMA, the InkomaziMunicipality and the TSB to combine their skills and knowledge in tackling the household water challenge. There was an agreement that together we can bring change in the situation. Of course, other areas of cooperation were identified during this serious meeting.
Strategic Business Plan approval
The process towards the approval of the business plan is drawing to close. We started in November 2007 when the process plan was approved by the Governing Board. This was followed by a consultative meeting on the 17th and 18th January 2008 at Ber-en Dal. Here the relevant government departments were invited. On the 22nd February the Governing Board approved the draft strategic business plan for consultation with stakeholders.
We then convened a stakeholder consultation meeting on the 29th February 2008 at the Nelspruit Botanical Gardens. The vibrancy of the meeting shocked everybody. Amongst the important stakeholders of the great KomatiRiver Basin were from Arasul, a catchment management agency in Mozambique, the CEO of Bushbuckridge Water, from mining, commercial and emerging farmers etc.
All the inputs received were incorporated in the Strategic Business plan and operational plan. We have been able to position the ICMA to truly address the needs of the stakeholders. The daunting task from now will be to work to solve these problems. Our preliminary assessment is that we will need about R30 million to solve these challenges.
Just today, the Governing Board has approved the document. We will be presenting this critical plan to the DWF on the 28th of March. We hope there will be sufficient funds to meet the expectations of the stakeholders.
School competitions
The ICMA has been involved with the schools competition for the past two weeks. We have been witnessing committed participation by the schools through out the catchment. The Upper- Komati and Lower-Komati will be giving out a computer and some garden implements for the different best performing schools here. In the next week, we will dedicate the Inkomati Flows to report on this and other events of the national water week.
What’s coming up next week?
ECLEI, like they did last year, will be hosting their conference in Benoni from Monday to Tuesday next week. They have requested that we do a presentation on the role of the Local Government in water resource management. This will be followed by the awards fro the best water conservation champion in Jo’burg. We will participate in all these events.
Conclusion
Just a week ago, our staff was trained for 5 days on the catchment management strategy principles. Those who managed to attend were very excited about this training. One even thought of advising her child to take up a career in the water sector.
With all the developments recorded above, this shows that we remain committed to make the ICMA the best in the country. Let’s work hard.
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