Number of issues led to Makhanda's water woes – water department
11 February 2019
It is not the Department of Water and Sanitation's responsibility to deliver emergency water supplies to parched towns such as Makhanda in the Eastern Cape, it said on Monday as a charity ferries bottled water to the town.
"It is our responsibility to say to a municipality that you cannot allow that thing to happen," said spokesperson Sputnik Ratau as concern mounts over the water situation in the town previously known as Grahamstown.
Ratau said the department is the sector leader and regulator, and assists through issuing directives and supports the municipality to make sure it does not have a failing infrastructure or spillages.
The department also does not have the budget to take water in bulk to the town which, like others including Beaufort West, has struggled through a myriad of water supply-related issues.