Senzo Mchunu to attend 7th Africa Sanitation Conference

Mchunu said South Africa has dealt with sanitation challenges with the involvement of all stakeholders, including science organisations and the private sector.

Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu is leading a department delegation to the 7th Africa Sanitation (AfricaSan) Conference in Swakopmund, Namibia.

The conference, taking place from 6 to 11 November 2023, is convened by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and the Commission of the African Union (AU).

It is attended by the Ministers and Heads of Delegations responsible for sanitation and hygiene in Africa, together with senior civil servants, academics, civil society, development partners and the private sector.

Specialised teams - led by the Deputy Directors-General for Water and Sanitation Services and International Relations, Risimati Mathye and Lindiwe Lusenga - are currently participating in the technical sessions on various sanitation and hygiene focused themes. 

Mchunu is expected to participate in a high-level Ministerial Dialogue on Friday, 10 November 2023, with other AMCOW member States, where conference outcome recommendations and decisions will be taken. 

Mchunu said South Africa has dealt with sanitation challenges with the involvement of all stakeholders, including science organisations and the private sector. 

He commended the main objective of the AfricaSan conference, which is to ensure that issues of sanitation are addressed on the continent.

“Sanitation is essential for human dignity, and it is the bedrock of our well-being and an essential element for human health. Lack of sanitation can be a barrier to individual prosperity and sustainable development. 

“It is important that the conference is keen on raising the profile of sanitation. Together, we want to see an enabling environment created to improve access to safely managed and sustainable sanitation services throughout the region,” Mchunu said.

This year’s conference is held under the theme: “Strengthening Systems and Partnerships for Accelerated Action on Safely Managed Sanitation and Hygiene”.

The conference started in South Africa in 2002, and was initiated to provide a platform for technical and political dialogue with governments and stakeholders to identify and share knowledge to address sanitation and hygiene challenges in Africa. 

Universal access 

At the 4th AfricaSan held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2015, the Ministers and Heads of Delegations signed visions and commitments to achieve universal access to adequate and sustainable sanitation and hygiene services and eliminate open defecation by 2030. 

To realize this vision, African governments made 10 commitments, which were adopted by the Member States. These also reinforced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have the same ambitious target of achieving global access to safely managed sanitation and hygiene, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls by 2030 (SGD 6.2). 

The Ngor commitments and the SDGs are closely aligned in that they both focus on establishing the enabling environment necessary to attain universal access. 

The South African Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) said it has made strides in two of the 10 commitments of the Ngor Declaration. 

“Commitment 2 aims to mobilise support and resources at the highest political level for sanitation and hygiene to disproportionately prioritise sanitation and hygiene in national development plans.

"These commitments were realised in the country following strategic plans that have influenced the paradigm shift of sanitation management in South Africa,” the department said. 

These plans include:

•    The National Development Plan (NDP), which set a target that all South Africans should have affordable and reliable access to sanitation by 2030.

•    The National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NWSMP), with its goal No 3 stating that water and sanitation must contribute to the economy and job creation.

•    The National Sanitation Policy, which provides policy positions on the entire sanitation value chain and recognises the economic value of sanitation and appropriate sanitation. It also encompasses new technological ways of waste management. 

•    The Industrial Action Policy Plan, which promotes development of off-grid sanitation technologies, with lower water requirements for sanitation. 

“On Commitment 7, which aims to progressively eliminate untreated waste and to encourage its productive use, the DWS has revitalised the Green Drop Certification Programme and the development of National Faecal Sludge Management Strategy,” the department said. 

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)