Address by Mr T.T. Mboweni, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, At the Variety Club, Water Relief Campaign Launch Banquet, Johannesburg, 14 November 2006 Honoured guestsLadies and Gentlemen 1. Introduction I am pleased and honoured that you have accepted our invitation to this banquet whose purpose is to launch the Variety Water Relief Campaign. As has been explained by the organisers, this campaign is an initiative to support the Government’s efforts in reaching out to some of the poorest schools in our country. It is a worthwhile campaign which I am glad that you have decided to join in. The needs out there are many and thanks to your support, the Variety Club can make some contribution towards improving the lives of school children or learners. Our campaign is the Variety Water Relief Campaign. As we all know, water is absolutely essential for the sustenance of human life and maintenance of basic human dignity and should, therefore, be a fundamental human right. Also, there could easily be enough water for everyone if the resource was shared equitably while ensuring the sustainability of natural ecosystems. Yet, globally over a billion people do not have access to clean water supplies and over two billion lack access to adequate sanitation, the primary cause of water-borne diseases. As many of you might know, I grew up in the province of Limpopo in a village just outside the little town of Tzaneen. There was no clean water system there. In fact we depended on water drawn from the nearest Nwaveti River. This task was more often than not assigned to women and young girls. The conditions were not conducive for a healthy life. As a matter of historic fact, in 1969 or thereabout, my two siblings and I fell ill from typhoid and spent three to four weeks in hospital. The environment was just ripe for disease. Boys would be swimming upstream whilst girls and women would be collecting water downstream! I regret to say this evening that many of the people in that area and others still do not have access to clean water. My former cabinet colleagues know of my Mrs Mboweni water story that I told in 1994. Up to today, Mrs Mboweni is still struggling for clean water.  2. Water and the Millennium Development Goals It was against this backdrop that, at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit, in September 2000, the leaders of the world adopted the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs constitute a developmental framework with time-bound goals and targets for measuring progress, and have since been embraced by all development institutions across the globe. By 2015, the MDGs seek to, among a range of other things, halve poverty, halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, provide universal primary education, reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation. The UN’s Millennium Development Goals Report (2006) shows significant progress towards the attainment of the MDGs. It also shows that we still have a long way to go. Unfortunately, with half of developing country populations still lacking basic sanitation, the world is unlikely to reach its target. Nevertheless, according to the report, between 1990 and 2004, sanitation coverage in the developing world increased from 35 to 50 per cent. This meant that 1, 2 billion people gained access to sanitation during this period – 300 million less than the requirement to meet the target. The report sees the world as being on track to reach the drinking water target with as many as 81 per cent of people in the developing world having access to improved sources of drinking water in 2004. This can be compared to 71 per cent in 1990. However, issues such as population growth and the urban-rural divide pose challenges going forward. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, for example, urban dwellers are twice as likely to have safe water as those in the countryside. 3. South Africa and the MDGs And how does South Africa compare? According to the triennial World Water Development Report (