FITTING THOUGHT
1
Be the change
you want to see
These were the words of both the executive
director and the president of IOPSA at its annual
awards held in Durban on 11 April 2019.
Participation is really such a big part of any industry
and is needed to create success. This is achieved by
working together and having the same goals in your
sights. As an industry we have already seen great
strides in changing and uplifting the industry on many
levels and we can expect great things for the future.
It is a pity, though, that we have to experience
the mass protests that we have seen in Alexandra
recently over basic services that include health
and sanitation, but this problem is not ringfenced
to selected areas; in fact, it is happening
throughout South Africa, as politics trumps the
needs of the people.
I had the opportunity to visit Diepsloot last month for
the launch of the report of the WASSUP programme,
which is a proposal for the City of Johannesburg to
adopt the principles and practices of the programme
in such areas as Diepsloot, and other under-serviced
areas, to upscale the provision of sustainable water
and sanitation services.
Now if anyone has actually been to Diepsloot, you
will know it is far from being a pleasant experience
from the perspective of the state of services,
health, hygiene, and the emotional distress you
experience seeing the conditions that people have
to live in. You have to think to yourself, how can
these sorts of conditions be acceptable for any
government, especially when programmes like
WASSUP require only a fraction of the costs of the
loss of water due to poor or no maintenance. But
the conditions prevail with literally zero intervention
from anyone in either municipalities or government
— everything is left to charity.
I had to shake my head when the Department of
Water and Sanitation (DWS) (who were invited
to attend the event to see the work of WASSUP)
rocked up in their bakkie, offloaded their gazebo
and sound system, and then proceeded to hand
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
out T-shirts and water bottles as though they
owned the area. They even ventured as far as
asking the WASSUP crew to take their shirts
off and replace them with the branded DWS
shirts. This was clearly just a PR campaign and
undermines the real work that has been done
over many years and still continues through the
dedicated community team, who get by on nothing
but private sponsorships. The cost of campaigning
there probably could have fixed
10 toilets that would serve hundreds of people in
reality. Perhaps someone will take note when they
see the cost of the billion litres of water that are
lost in Diepsloot each year.
It is really something to think about because so much
money is wasted in both government and the private
sector, and although there is not enough money in the
world to support every charity need, funds should be
channelled into programmes that are actually making
a difference.
In this issue, we offer business tips and specifically
look at change management on page 38. We
continue with our rainwater series on page
32. There is some information from the World
Economic Forum on world risks and we take a
small glimpse at groundwater and its potential to
create a conflict. We continue with our drainage
feature on page 46 and we sit down with newly
appointed chairman of the Gauteng IOPSA
committee, Sello Mokawane, as our profile. Our
project is a high-tech new build installation that
includes on-site water treatment and blackwater
recycling (page 40).
I trust you enjoy this issue and please do get in touch
with any comments, complaints, or suggestions:
[email protected] or send a WhatsApp
to +27 (0) 82 940 0701. Your input is valuable to us.
Happy plumbing!
Ben
May 2019 Volume 25 I Number 3