SPEECH BY PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA AT THE COMMISSIONING OF THE MORETELE WATER PROJECT

SPEECH BY PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA AT THE COMMISSIONING OF THE MORETELE
WATER PROJECT

Moretele, 14 October 1995

Honourable Ministers;
Acting Premier of the North-West Province;

Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.

Not long ago we came here to launch the Moretele Water Supply Scheme. We gave
ourselves six months to get the water flowing. I have come back to Maubane today
to see for myself that the goal has indeed been achieved and that the first taps
are running.

This first phase which is coming to fruition today was also the first RDP
Presidential Lead Project for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation. About 130,000
people will be getting secure supplies of clean drinking water from this phase.
The next phase begins today.

All over the world water is regarded as precious as life itself. Here in
South Africa it is even more than life. And yet for 48 years and more, millions
of our people were not regarded as worthy of this simple but basic necessity. We
have had to await the coming of democracy.

And so we are able today to open the taps here and at Sekampaneng, a
community that was in the past deprived of water for political reasons.

Maubane has chosen to make the school the beneficiaries of the first tap.
Because as South Africans we value our children.

I am informed that key aspects of the second phase are designed by a young
black woman engineer. After studying abroad Uhuru Madida has come back to serve
her people. And we congratulate her.

Today in South Africa children have opportunities which she lacked. We are
confident that amongst the children of this community who will be using the
water more engineers, workers, teachers and other leaders will emerge and
continue the tradition of serving the people.

Congratulations to the community of Odi-Moretele, to the North West
Government, to the Ministry of Water Affairs and the RDP Office for a job well
done.

The project whose success we are registering today confirms that working
together, we can make it make happen where we live.

I thank you.