Livestock will be moved to state-owned land and government will look into the feasibility of buying fodder for starving animals in the worst-affected areas‚ as part of a multi-departmental response to the drought gripping various parts of the country. Gauteng residents will have their taps switched off at certain times while those in the North West will see a fast-tracking of plans to fix its dysfunctional infrastructure.These are among the initiatives discussed by the Inter-Ministerial Committee for water scarcity and drought‚ which is led by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA)‚ Pravin Gordhan. Briefing media in Pretoria on Friday‚ the committee said a range of actions would be taken to mitigate the effects of drought and water scarcity. The national average dam level currently is sitting at 64‚3%‚ compared with storage last year at the same time of 74.6%‚ the committee said in a statement. There are four dams which are at critical levels: Hazelmere Dam‚ Goedetrouw Dam‚ Hluhluwe Dam and Klipfontein Dam‚ where mandatory restrictions are currently in place.The committee‚ calling itself “Team South Africa”‚ announced these plans to mitigate the impact of the water shortages and drought:- The cities of Johannesburg‚ Ekurhuleni and Tshwane along with Rand Water have formed a Joint Operations Centre to coordinate a recovery plan. The plan involves turning off water supply in certain areas between 7pm or 8pm in the evening and 4am or 5am in the morning for several nights‚ to allow sufficient time for the water levels in the water reservoirs and water towers to recover so that water can again be supplied to the affected high-lying areas‚ the committee said. “Affected residents will be informed timeously before these measures are taken. Special measures will be put in place to ensure that institutions which require water on a 24 hour basis‚ such as hospitals‚ old age homes and schools are able to continue to function while these measures are taken‚” the committee said. “If all of us work together to implement the recovery plan‚ it is possible for us to reach a situation where there will no longer be large numbers of households without water by Tuesday next week.”- The Department of Water and Sanitation will spend R352‚6 million initially and an additional R96‚ 6 million to intensify and mitigate the effects of drought in KwaZulu-Natal. This will cover the cost of 45 extra 18‚000 litre water tankers and borehole drilling and rehabilitation.- In North West‚ the department has partnered with the provincial government on targeted interventions in the Madibeng and Ngaka Modiri Molema municipalities to improve water and sanitation management and reinstate dysfunctional infrastructure. An amount of R184‚2 million and R147 million has been allocated to Madibeng and Ngaka Modiri Molema respectively.- Smallholder farmers will be helped by the Department of Agriculture by: * The provision of livestock feed and alternative grazing on available state farms‚ for which R226 million has been reprioritised and allocated; * the drilling and equipping of additional boreholes for livestock water in the affected areas; * coordinating supply of food for farmworkers and rural communities.The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform announced that livestock from worst-affected regions in five provinces would be relocated to “state-owned land”‚ where there is still better pasture. The department is allocating almost R187-million for this drought relief intervention. In the North West the department is allocating 200‚000 hectares to be made available for communal farmers and is busy doing field assessments and infrastructure needs and water assessments and possibility of establishing feedlots...