South Africa wants equitable management of water resources shared with Mozambique, particularly along the Komati river and in the Maputo river basin, a South African ministerial source told Lusa on 23 November.
With this in mind, South Africa’s Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, will meet this Thursday and Friday with his Mozambican counterpart, Carlos Mesquita, in Malalane, South Africa’s Nkomazi municipality, in the east of the country, said the South African minister’s spokeswoman, Kamogelo Mogotsi.
“It is a meeting that should have happened a long time ago, also to strengthen cooperation and existing bilateral relations between the two countries under what we call the joint water commission regarding the agreement that was signed in 1996,” she explained in statements to Lusa.
“There is the Komati river (Incomati in Mozambique) and the Maputo river basin that the two countries share, and so it is basically to ensure that there is equitable use of these specific resources between both nations,” he said.
At the two-day meeting with the Mozambican Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, in the South African province of Mpumalanga, Pretoria also plans to learn about the measures developed and implemented by the Mozambican government over the past 20 years under the agreement between the two countries.
“The strategies developed and what the Mozambicans have done since then in terms of their water resources, perhaps projects that we can learn from, and the meeting is not necessarily confined to shared water resources, but also to find the best way to work together as African countries to ensure that there is sustainable water for the next generations,” the ministerial spokeswoman told Lusa.
It is the first ministerial-level meeting between the two countries since Senzo Mchunu took office on 5 August 2021.
The government delegations will visit the Driekoppies dam in Schoemansdal, Nkomazi municipality, on Thursday afternoon. The discussions will culminate in the signing of a joint declaration on cooperation between the two countries on Friday, according to a note from the South African government sent to Lusa.
