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dam-l SA water story/LS
Note the reference to the recent conflict in Lesotho and its connection to
the LHWP. The fighting in Lesotho carried into the highlands communities,
and 17 Lesotho soldiers died in the Katse Dam area. The South African
troops were sent immediately to defend the Katse and Mohale Dam sites,
while the capital city of Maseru burned.
South Africa: Water expertise to the rest of Africa
Inter-Press Service (IPS), 12 October 1998
By Gumisai Mutume
Johannesburg - South Africa has been spreading itself generously across the
continent since Nelson Mandela became President in 1994 and it now intends
to capture a fluid market -- the water sector.
A company formed to market South Africa's expertise in the area of water
technology was launched in Johannesburg on Monday to facilitate the
country's entry into a highly competitive area dominated by European and
American firms.
The company will open up the rest of the continent to a new kind of trekker,
development consultants, equipment manufacturers, contractors and suppliers
in the water field.
It will also tap into the resources of funding agencies like the
Abidjan-based African Development Bank (ADB).
Water Affairs minister, Kader Asmal, says the launching of the company comes
''... at a time when South Africa is more export oriented than ever before,
considering the effects of the global economic and currency difficulties''.
''Inspite of the high profile of our expertise and technology abroad, very
little has been done to capitalise on this situation by way of export
promotion,'' he says.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, South Africa and Nigeria have accounted
for two thirds of direct investments in other African countries.
South African firms account for about 65 percent of the sales of the largest
foreign affiliates in Africa in all industries outside finance and
insurance, according to the United Nations.
The not-for-profit company, initiated by South Africa's Water Research
Commission, seeks to export the country's expertise in equipment used in
tracking rainstorms, in low technology sewerage treatment and the
development of cleaner production methods in textiles, petrochemicals and
power generation among others.
It has often been said that the next war in southern Africa will be fought
over water. South Africa, like the rest of the region is water-stressed,
receiving average rainfall only slightly more than half the world average.
Estimates show that demand in southern Africa could overtake water supply in
the next two decades which has seen a flurry of activity around inter-basin
transfers in a region faced by severe droughts.
While South Africa's recent military intervention in Lesotho has much to do
with politics, it was also pushed by a need to secure its vital supply of
water from the just completed Lesotho Highlands Water Project which is the
mainstay of its industrial heartland in Gauteng province.
There are also plans to further tap the resources of the Zambezi River to
water southern Africa. The Zambezi runs through at least seven countries on
its way to the Indian Ocean.
In 30 years, global population growth is set to outstrip freshwater supply.
While building new dams will increase world supply by about 10 percent,
innovative ideas are urgently required to deal with population growth
estimated to have expanded by 45 percent.
This is also a time when industrial and agricultural developments are
placing rapid demands on water management requirements.
Serious pollution problems from wastewater treatment plants into national
river supplies and massive backlogs in water supply and sanitation to the
majority of its people are some of the challenges facing the continent's
water planners.
''South Africa's water industry has a reputation for the quality of its
research ... and the overall strength of water engineering and
utilisation,'' says Piet Odendaal of the Water Research Commission.
''The new company will strengthen our ability to convert this reputation
into income-generating contracts for South African firms,'' he says.
At present, the picture on the ground concerning sustainable water use in
the sub-region leaves a lot to be desired.
While irrigation accounts for more than half of all water used in the region
as much as 60 percent of the water drawn from dams and rivers is lost before
it reaches the land under irrigation because of seepage and evaporation.
Southern Africa also has vast hydro-electric potential but only one percent
of this potential -- outside South Africa -- has been developed.
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2. South Africa: Time to resign says Suzman
Business Day (SA), 12 October 1998
By Nomavenda Mathiane
Johannesburg - Veteran anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman has played down
the circumstances leading to her sudden recent departure from the Human
Rights Commission.
Interviewed at the weekend, Suzman denied speculation her resignation from
the human rights watchdog was prompted by any major differences of opinion.
Suzman said she had been considering resigning for some time. "Remember, I
am a few months older than Mandela," she said.
However she said she was happy the Pretoria High Court had ruled in favour
of foreign doctors, a position which corresponded with her "dissenting views".
Last week, the court found in favour of 11 foreign doctors' rights to
practise in the private sector.
Earlier this year, the commission, chaired by Barney Pityana, backed
government and the Medical and Dental Council against the doctors, arguing
that the discriminatory treatment of foreign doctors - a requirement that
they had to serve in the public sector for a period of time before being
allowed into private practice - was constitutionally acceptable.
A commission official claimed Suzman "refused to be part of the (body's)
panel and chose to take the side of the doctors".
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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