Deputy Minister Mahlobo shares South Africa's experiences in the sanitation sector
Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister, David Mahlobo highlighted that South Africa has adopted a revolutionary approach under the theme - "It is not all about flushing", as recognition that water is becoming a scarce resource globally due to challenges of drought and climate change, thereby impacting on the country's ability to provide flushing toilets across the country.
Deputy Minister Mahlobo made this authoritative pronouncement during his address at the 2022 World Toilet Summit currently taking place at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria yesterday 18 November 2022.
Nigerian Vice President, His Excellency Yemi Osinbajo, Governors, Ministers responsible for water and sanitation, and other prominent dignitaries across the African continent converged for a two-day summit in the Nigerian federal capital.
The summit is meant improve collaboration among stakeholders, driven as government programmes, towards accelerated access to sustainable sanitation services, mobilize investment to the sanitation sub-sector, and enhance an enabling environment for sanitation service delivery through private sector participation.
The theme of the summit is "Sanitation Innovations for Economic Development" and it also provided the platform to share, learn and interact with diverse stakeholders across different sanitation themes.
Delivering his address, Deputy Minister Mahlobo began by conveying messages of support and condolences to the people of Nigeria over their loss of many lives due to the recent floods which left a lot of devastation to the country and its people.
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In as far as the National Development Plan is concerned, Deputy Minister Mahlobo stated that it promotes partnerships with the private sector to encourage the development of solutions to water and sanitation challenges.
"We have formalised partnerships with the private sector and civil society through the Strategic Water Partners Network (SWPN). The SWPN has a programme that will contribute to increasing sanitation coverage by growing the market for decentralised off-grid sanitation services", Deputy Minister Mahlobo added.
Deputy Minister Mahlobo emphasised that the South African government has made significant strides towards providing safe and dignified sanitation for all South Africans.
"According to our national statics, close to 80% of South African households have access to improved sanitation, which is either a flushing toilet connected to a reticulation system or an onsite solution like the ventilated pit latrine", Deputy Minister Mahlobo stated.
Furthermore, Deputy Minister Mahlobo added that lack of water and/or accessibility has been an impediment to decent sanitation rollout especially in rural areas where a sizeable number of communities are still dependant on pit toilets built with specifications which also have an element of contaminating the ground water.
This summit was a sign of persisting efforts despite difficulties towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) which states that by 2030, countries must have achieved access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, and put an end to open defaecation.
