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The Department of Works was involved in the provision of infrastructure including water
in a number of KwaZulu townships, in conjunction with the (former) Department of
DevelopmentAid. These programmes were undertaken via the RSA-KwaZulu Development
Project (discussed in the chapter on water supply planning, elsewhere in this publication).
The Community Services Branch of the Natal Provincial Administration has now assumed
the functions in these areas, of the Department of Development Aid. Umgeni Water (with
the assistance of the KwaZulu Department of Works - where relevant), instituted a
programme in 1981 to install reticulated supplies in certain black residential areas in the
Durban Functional Region, and subsequently further afield. Mhlatuze Water has likewise
begun to address formal reticulated systems in black settled areas in northern KwaZulu.
A regional (rural) water scheme has been completed at Ndumo and environs, which will
ultimately serve some 50 000 people in a 570 km 2 area. Further reticulation networks are
planned in the vicinity of Hluhluwe Dam and the Makatini Flats.
The KwaZulu Department of Works is also responsible for sanitation services including the
removal of refuse (where applicable), in proclaimed townships and at. Government
buildings. A recent trend is the privatisation of waterworks and sewage treatment works
in selected townships. Refuse removal and disposal likewise, has been privatised in
several townships.
The second KwaZulu Government department concerned with water supplies is the
KwaZulu Department of Agriculture and Forestry. The Department is involved with the
upgrading of potable water sources as well as irrigation and related services, at
agriculturally-based settlements (both rural and peri-urban) in KwaZulu. Potable sources
are mainly in the form of protected springs, boreholes and wells (see the chapter on
groundwater). The Department is officially responsible for the drilling of boreholes and
wells in non-urban areas of KwaZulu. The Department employs a contractor to undertake
actual drilling operations. The Department may also, if requested by the KwaZulu
Department of Works, arrange for the drilling of boreholes in proclaimed townships and
hamlets. These areas are not however, usually dependent on boreholes. The KwaZulu
Department of Works may also request drilling services at Government buildings such as
clinics, in rural areas. The KwaZulu Department of Works is then responsible for the
installation and maintenance of pumping facilities at the sites. The KwaZulu Department
of Agriculture and Forestry maintains borehole pumping equipment in all other areas, with
the exception of the Umzansi agricultural region and boreholes installed by non-KwaZulu