Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

CHAPTER 8
Department of Water Affairs
Introduction
The rights to water and sanitation are guaranteed by the South African Constitution,
the UNCRC (Article 24(c)) and the ACRWC (Article 14(2)(c)) and it is primarily the
responsibility of the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) to realise these rights.
Section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution guarantees that ‘everyone has the right to have access
to sufficient water’ and section 24(a) guarantees everyone the right to ‘an environment that
is not harmful to their health or well-being’.
The rights to water and sanitation are especially important for children, and even more so
for two particularly vulnerable groups of children, namely, very young children and children
living with HIV/AIDS. Young children, more so than others, are very vulnerable to the risks
posed by contaminated water, poor sanitation and inadequate hygiene. In South Africa, it is
argued that better sanitation alone could reduce diarrhoea-related morbidity by a third, and
if one adds improved hygiene, this could be reduced by two-thirds (Coutsoudis et al. 2008:
88). In the case of children living with HIV/AIDS, more water and higher sanitation levels
are required than for other children in order to ensure their health, standard of living and
dignity. For example, extra care is necessary in the preparation of food to minimise the risk
of gastrointestinal infections, to which HIV-infected people are more susceptible; frequent
bathing is necessitated by susceptibility to skin infections; the frequency of diarrhoea for
people living with HIV requires additional water to prevent dehydration and additional
flushing sanitation facilities. A matter common to both very young children and to people
living with HIV/AIDS is the additional water and hygiene facilities required for safe bottle
feeding, the feeding method of choice for many HIV-positive mothers. Access to additional
water is not only important for people and children infected with HIV, but also for their
caregivers and other members of the household. Access to additional water is important
to lessen the burden of caring for an HIV-infected household and to ensure that other
members do not have to sacrifice their water in order to meet the additional needs of the
HIV-infected members in the household. 93
Key policies 94
● Free Basic Water Policy, 2000
● White Paper on Basic Household Sanitation, 2001
● ‘Free Basic Water’ Implementation Strategy, 2001
● National Sanitation Programme, 2001
● Policy Framework on Orphans and other Children Made Vulnerable by HIV and
AIDS South Africa, 2005
● The National Action Plan for Orphans and Other Children Made Vulnerable by HIV
and AIDS South Africa, 2006–2008
● The National Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development in South Africa,
2005–2010
93 Affidavit in the High Court of South Africa Witwatersrand Local Division, Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg, Case No.
06/13865, www.law.wits.ac.za
94 This study drew on previous policy mapping exercises conducted by Kallmann (2008) and Giese and Koch (2008c) to
assist with the identification and navigation of a number of the key policies and laws.
189