WINDHOEK – Almost a year after South African President Jacob Zuma pledged to donate N$100 million to support the drought relief programme in Namibia, the South African government earlier this month announced that it has approved the multi-million dollar budget allocation.
Zuma made the commitment last November during a two-day state visit to Namibia. At the time, the South African leader said he had been briefed on the on-going drought since his arrival in Namibia and decided to pledge N$100 million to assist Namibia in dealing with the emergency.
Questions later surfaced about what many felt was a slow process in delivering the promised donation.
However, an official letter seen by New Era, from the South African Water and Sanitation Department to the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, stated the South African Cabinet had recently sanctioned Zuma’s pledge to Namibia and that a delegation would soon visit Namibia to conduct technical assessments.
“As you may be aware, during the South Africa state visit to Namibia from 6 to 7 November 2013, President J. Zuma committed a funding of R100 million to support the drought relief programme in Namibia,” the letter, dated October 1, 2014, reads.
“The programmes were intended to cover water, health and agriculture. The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) through its subsidiary office, African Renaissance Fund [ARF], has approved a total budget allocation of about R100 million for Namibia’s drought relief programme,
to be administered by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).”
The department said N$45 million of the total money has been ring-fenced to be utilised on borehole drilling, provision of water tankers and acquiring technical skills to support installations of the boreholes in five of Namibia’s 14 regions.
Also, it will identify other relevant projects and programmes on water and sanitation, which are sustainable in nature and can be supported through the remainder of the N$55 million from the allocation.
A delegation from South Africa comprising of members of the Rand Water, Sedibeng, Magalies and Bloem water boards will soon visit Namibia to conduct technical assessments for possible projects which are implementable and sustainable in nature, said the department’s Acting Director General Trevor Blazer.
The delegation is expected to meet the relevant Namibian institutions on both water and sanitation in order to identify challenges and possible interventions to address them.
Blazer said the delegation would appreciate their Namibian counterparts organising meetings and site studies.
The planned visit will last for four to five days.
Foreign Affairs Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and her agriculture counterpart, John Mutorwa, both expressed delight at the news from across the Orange.
“There have been developments and they are meeting their commitment. Much of their commitment is on the water issue such as boreholes. There is very good progress,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah.
During an interview with New Era yesterday, Mutorwa also welcomed the commitment and warned officials in his ministry that he would not tolerate any unnecessary delays.
“Quite a number of boreholes were drilled during the 2013 drought period, but regrettably a huge percentage of the said boreholes are not utilised because the necessary installations could not be done due to insufficient funds and/or capacity,” said Mutorwa.