KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube has welcomed the declaration of the drought-stricken province as a disaster area by national government.
In a statement released late on Thursday, Dube-Ncube hailed the development as a “much needed shot in the arm” of the province’s bid to provide relief to communities and the provincial economy as taps run dry.
“This declaration brings hope for our communities and the provincial economy since it means as the province we will be fighting this crisis with national government and this will help strengthen our efforts at mitigating the impact of the drought.
“The support we are going to get from national will only go so far in providing some relief. We still need to continue to conserve water, use water sparingly because these dry times are actually a global phenomenon that is said to be going to prevail along with the climate change and global warming phenomena,” she warned.
Meanwhile, the announcement that KwaZulu-Natal is now a disaster zone could not have come at a better time, as the Kokstad and Ingwe municipality in Harry Gwala District have this week become the latest to announce major water restrictions.
Ixopo dam in the district is the latest to reach a critically low level of 30% and mandatory curtailments in the distribution of water have started in earnest in the entire district.
On the border of Durban, the iLembe District has reduced water supply by 50%, with many communities not receiving water for three days at a time.
Source: News24
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