The Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane said that water has become the new gold during her speech at the Infrastructure Investment Summit launch in Rosebank on Monday 06 November 2017.

She remarked that it is costing approximately R14 billion to deal with the backlog of water and sanitation infrastructure and if there are no drastic changes the economy could be affected by lack of water.

The minister said that they are one of the countries constrained by water availability and that is paramount to keep good relationship with neighbouring countries as water issues were a cross-cutting matter that deals with peace and stability with surrounding countries. The country relies on Lesotho for water.

Ms. Mokonyane said that they might suffer from lack of economy growth due to the lack of water in the country. All South African need to help with changes as the recent droughts and floods were the worst in recent years. She points out there are already some initiative in place to help people understanding the need to save water.

The theme of the Investment Summit, “South African water open for business”, aims to introduce people to the opportunities available and to engage in dialogues on how they could alleviate the crisis and turn it into financial growth.

The minister made clear that maintenance and upgrading of the water and sanitation infrastructures are vital since South Africa is one of the very few countries where people can drink water directly from the tap.