Water essential for socioeconomic growth – Mokonyane

Addressing a delegation at an Orange-Senqu River Basin Commission (Orasecom) meeting in Kempton Park, Gauteng, on Friday, Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvulo Mokonyane highlighted the need for access to water as a serious challenge facing South Africa, as water security is necessary and essential for economic growth and development. Mokonyane noted that Orasecom, established in 2000 by the governments of South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia to manage the transboundary water resources of the Orange-Senqu River basin, supports the nexus approach to climate resilience, where energy security through hydropower generation, as well as food security, is supported through irrigation development – something South Africa depends heavily on.