Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has urged her African counterparts to take immediate action on water conservation, warning that delaying critical measures will be detrimental to the continent’s future.
The Minister said this at a Ministerial Breakfast Meeting she hosted during the Africa Water Week and Cairo Water Week (CWW) conferences held in Egypt.
The breakfast meeting was attended by a number of African countries, including Namibia, Senegal, Somalia, Egypt and Lesotho.
The meeting was a report back on the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly and dialogue on commitments towards the African Union Water Investment Summit in 2025.
Minister Majodina participated in the 9th edition of the Africa Water Week (AWW), which took place alongside the Cairo Water Week which began on 13 October and concluded on 17 October.
In her opening remarks at the breakfast meeting, Minister Majodina warned that wars over water will be the result of inaction.
“Surely, we don’t want to be counted when there’s a war on water, so there must be a reference that says we did our part to save the continent from going to war due to lack of access to water.
"In the next AWW, we must step up our game and make sure that all the resolutions taken here are implemented. The time for talking is over,” Minister Majodina emphasised.
She also spoke of a lack of gender representation.
“The only shortcoming I observed is that I was the only Minister of Water who is a woman. There is a lack of gender representation in this sector to the extent that there was no dedicated section dealing with the struggles that confront women,” she noted.
Majodina expressed satisfaction with the contribution that the South African delegation made at the AWW and CWW.
"What we (South Africa) brought boldly to the fore is the need for water to be a priority on every panel. We learned a lot, but they also learned a lot from us. We were not here just to absorb, but also to share," the Minister said. SAnews.gov.za
