Review of sanitation policy and practice in South Africa from 2001-2008 : report to the water research commission

The South African Democratic Government has prioritised the provision of basic water and sanitation services to the poor because of the perceived high impact of these services in the reduction of poverty. In 2001 an estimated 57.6% of the population had access to basic or higher level of sanitation services and 42.4% lacked access to a basic sanitation service level. Between 2001 and
2008, approximately 73% of the population had access to basic sanitation services and the basic sanitation backlog was reduced to 27%. This represented significant progress in the eradication of the basic sanitation infrastructure backlog. The 2010 target for the eradication of the basic sanitation infrastructure backlog set by the Strategic Framework for Water Services in 2003 has forced all spheres of government to allocate more resources to support the acceleration of basic sanitation infrastructure delivery to all those households who currently lack access to these services. In spite of all these efforts, there were, however, still millions of households that lacked access to a basic sanitation service level. [authors abstract]