2005 - 2006 - Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2012

SOUTH AFRICA PART 2: COUNTRY ANALYSIS
South Africa
Economics (2003)
GDP per capita US$2,750
GDP per capita (PPP) US$10,130
GDP in Agriculture 4%
GDP in Industry 31%
GDP in Services 65%
Devolution of power and funding seen
The Government aims to transfer its water supply and sanitation activities to municipalities by 2006.
This involves local governments taking over operating and capital costs when the schemes still
operated by the department are transferred to municipalities by the end of 2006. The Water Affairs
and Forestry Department's water services budget will fall to R400 million in 2007/8 from R2.3 billion in
2003/4. A R21 billion (€2.63 billion) National Water Resource Strategy was adopted in 2004, to allow
for a more efficient management of the country's water resources, and address water shortages. The
Strategy will ensure that about 6million South Africans have access to clean water, while the backlog
of about 18 million people without sanitation is cleared by 2008.
Targets for universal coverage slip away
South Africa has set the target of ensuring access by everybody to water services by 2008, and
sanitation services by 2010. Basic water services are defined as 25L potable water within 200 meters
on a sustainable basis. Sanitation services are defined as being safe and hygienic. The ongoing
programme has completely changed the water supply and sanitation profile of the South African
population, namely in 1994 access to basic water supply was 59% and in 2003 it is now 76%. By
contrast, sanitation was 47% in 1994 and in 2003 it was 61%.
In 2004, there were 3.6 million people with no access to safe water; a further 5.4 million had a source
of safe water but, at more than 200 metres from the households. 16 million people do not have
access to any hygienic sanitation.
State coverage targets:
2003 2004 2008
Free basic water 70% 80% 85%
Free basic sanitation 0% 20% 40%
A policy on basic household sanitation was developed and adopted by Cabinet in 2001. Following up
on this, a comprehensive strategy is being developed which will be completed by March 2004 and
include aspects such as basic and higher levels sanitation in informal settlements, urban and rural
areas, as well as an implementation plan and financial models for sustainability.
Water resources and distribution
South Africa is presently the 26 th most stressed country in terms of water availability per person. It is a
semi-arid country with unevenly distributed rainfall (43% of the rains fall on 13% of the land) and with
high annual variability and unpredictability. The industrial heartland of the country, surrounding
Johannesburg, is situated in an arid zone. As a consequence, some of the largest inter-basin transfer
schemes in the world have been developed. See the country entry for Lesotho for the Highlands
Water Project, the largest example of this kind.
Population
2003 (million) 45.8
2015 (million) 47.2
Urbanisation in 2003 59%
Urbanisation by 2015 63%
In urban agglomerations, 2015 32%
182 Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2005 – 2006