Pretoria - Cabinet has called on all South Africans, including domestic users, businesses, the mining sector, energy and agriculture, to work together and use water more sparingly.
Cabinet has noted the deterioration of the drought situation in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
“A team comprising officials from the Department of Water and Sanitation, the National Disaster Management Committee, working with the provinces and local government, had been actively engaged in ensuring that short to medium-term solutions are fast-tracked to guarantee the water security of the province in the long term,” said Cabinet in a statement on Thursday following its fortnightly meeting.
Cabinet has called on communities to support the water restrictions introduced by the provinces.
This week, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille officially declared the province a disaster area in response to the most crippling drought to hit the province in over a century. As it stands, the disaster will be classified for a three-month period which can be extended, if the need arises.
The City of Cape Town has since called on residents to bring down their water use as the drought crisis continues.
The City has asked all water users to reduce their water usage to 100 litres per person per day. – SAnews.gov.za
