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6 October 2005

First Lady of the Province, Mrs Zama Ndebele;
Her worship Mayor Nokwazi Shusha;
Honourable guests;
Representatives of Pioneer Foods;
Members of the Intshambili community;
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to be with you today at this important launch of Intshambili for water pumps project. Quite frankly, this important event serves to remind us of the importance of partnerships in service delivery. It pricks on our conscience about the need to join hands in tackling the problems and challenges that face the poor people of our country.

I am particularly pleased by the fact that the project has targeted most of the poorest rural areas of our country. The issue of equitable distribution of resources forms the bedrock of government’s approach in poverty eradication and development. To achieve this important goal, government insists that everyone should come on board as Pioneer Foods has done to ensure the equal spread of these resources.

As our recently published Health Charter declares, it is essential that the motive forces in healthcare service delivery and other poverty eradication programmes, if I may add, should embrace the need to effect transformation of the national health system in a co-operative, constructive and mutually beneficial relationship.

The important gesture of Pioneer Foods is complementing government in the provision and increasing access to clean water bears living testimony to this fact. The reality is that many of our people are poor and they continue to endure a painful legacy of a society where access to clean water and decent sanitation has been denied for decades.

This is compounded by the fact that our country has limited water resources, which calls on all of us to use them efficiently and in the best interest of all our people.

From today, the community of Intshambili will celebrate yet another milestone in the journey to a better life. The school going village boys and girls will better manage their time since the wells have now come closer to home. The elderly and the sick, the youth and women of this area now have improved chances of avoiding water borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Such sicknesses and other outbreaks have placed an even greater burden on us collectively to join hands to ensure that poor communities such as the one here have access to clean drinking water. Water is the source of life and just one water pump can make a huge difference in the lives of 2500 people.

At this point, I wish to pose a serious challenge to the people of this area to take good care of this important project, to use the resource sparingly, efficiently and sustainable. We are a water scarce country. We share the bitter longing for rains that never seem to come. It is important that we take full responsibility as a community in partnership with government and the private sector for the sustainable use of this resource. Sandra Postel, World watch Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Massachusetts wrote in Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, “We have been quick to assume rights to use water but slow to recognise obligations to preserve and protect it. In short, we need a water ethic, a guide to right conduct in the face of complex decisions about natural systems we do not and cannot fully understand.” Sandra Postel, Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity

The issue of healthcare service delivery occupies an important niche in our continuing struggle for a better life for all. This major service of government to the people includes access to clean water, modern sanitation, nutritious food and a clean and healthy environment.

I am quite sure that the generous and needed intervention by Pioneer Foods in this project will send an important message to our other corporate citizens to strengthen our joint efforts in fighting the scourge of poverty. Indeed, government has resolved to mobilise all forces in an integrated response to the problems of health that face the millions of poor people in our country. Our healthy lifestyles campaign has also taken a new turn to raise awareness about cleanliness and the importance of access to clean water.

This month, the Department of Health is running a public awareness campaign on infection control. In many ways, the availability and access to clean and uncontaminated water increases the chances of improved health for both patient and healthcare workers.

The ‘wash your hands’ campaign seeks to encourage health care workers to always adopt appropriate infection control measures, to raise awareness among healthcare users on basic infection control measures, to minimise the risk of infectious outbreaks arising from poor infection control practices, to protect health care workers and users against the occurrence of disease, death and disability as a result of incorrect infection control practices

Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank Pioneer Foods for contributing towards this meaningful initiative. You are not just giving a community access to water; you are also enriching their lives with the quality of life that money cannot buy.

Allow me as well to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the participation of the community in this venture. The ancient adage: “nothing about people without people” will always inspire this consistent bond between government and the people.

As we move closer to another important democratic phase in local government elections, I wish to remind you that the power of change and development is in your hands. Go out there and register to vote so that you have the possibility once more to determine your own future and destiny.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Health
6 October 2005