September marks an important annual celebration on SA’s calendar.
It is a month during which we celebrate our country’s heritage.
The Cambridge dictionary defines heritage as: “Features belonging to the culture of a particular society, such as traditions, languages, or buildings, that were created in the past and still have historical importance.”
SA, one of the most diverse societies in the world, is a country with a lot of heritage, both tangible and intangible.
It is also a country with impressive natural heritage, which includes its culturally significant landscapes and unique biodiversity.
And yet, in celebrating our heritage, we often forget that our democratic institutions and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) also constitute a part of this heritage.
This is in part because discourse on such institutions is often marred in politics.
State-owned enterprises, in particular, are often the subject of discussion about maladministration, misappropriation of state resources and corruption.
While this is reasonable, given the perilous state of many of our SOEs, there are those which are functional and effective, and whose story is a reminder of the importance of taking care of the things we inherited, even as their initial establishment was not for the benefit of the majority of our people.
The story of Rand Water is intricately linked to the history of SA.
The water board was established in 1903, in response to the demands of water resources by the mining industry that was the backbone of the country’s economy.
Over the following decades, Rand Water’s services would be expanded to other industries and urban households, which were reserved for white people.
In line with the policy of separate development that was in place during apartheid, rural areas and townships, predominantly occupied by black people, were deprived of water and sanitation services.
It wasn’t until 1994 that the democratic government, defining water as one of the most vital resources needed for human life, set parameters for Rand Water to become a supplier of water to historically disadvantaged communities.
Within ten years of the new dispensation, Rand Water supported the government in bringing safe and affordable water to everyone in the water utility’s area of supply, which includes the three Gauteng metros and some municipalities in North West, Free State and Mpumalanga.
The availability of safe and clean drinking water had a significant impact on millions of South Africans, particularly those from historically marginalised groups.
During the apartheid era, social disadvantage in townships and rural areas was associated with increased morbidity and mortality.
Some of the more common diseases that killed many black people during the apartheid era were linked to environmental exposures including lack of safe drinking water and sanitation.
The democratisation of Rand Water led to the improvement of the public health situation in these areas, demonstrating the critical importance of access to clean and safe drinking water.
Over the past few years, Rand Water has continued to be at the forefront of redress.
One of the ways it has done this is through the establishment of the Rand Water Academy, which was unveiled in October 2012.
The academy provides theoretical and practical training to future water engineers and technologists in order that they may plough back to SA by addressing the critical need for skilled professionals in the local water industry.
It’s significant that a majority of graduates of the academy are black.
Historically, black people had no representation in the water industry — not as professionals or consumers.
This evolution of Rand Water speaks not only to the value of the institution, but to how heritage can evolve to reflect the progressive sociopolitical changes that are taking place in postcolonial societies.
As we celebrate Heritage Month, it’s important that we also celebrate institutions that have transformed from serving colonial and apartheid interests, to serving the interests of all South Africans — and doing so through good governance.
Rand Water maintaining consecutive clean audits and being instrumental in the development of technological interventions to address the water security challenges that confront SA is indicative of its effectiveness and the good leadership at its helm.
This is what heritage must mean to us — a transformational legacy that ensures the preservation and strengthening of institutions that matter most.
HeraldLIVE
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