Govt to provide water to 2000 communities amid battle against coronavirus
Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says over 2000 sites have been identified that need water.
The social cluster of ministers gave more details on the impending 21-day lockdown, as announced by President Ramaphosa on Monday.
"It is well and good to say wash your hands, but what happens to those of us who do not have water? So we have taken extraordinary measures to seek support from the private sector and we have so far identified over 2000 communities and over 2091 sites where we are going to provide water facilities," Sisulu said
She explained that the government’s priority will be rural and drought-stricken areas.
"What we intend to do with water is make sure is that we supply every community that needs water with the necessary tanks and we'll have collection points for water to ensure that we do have overcrowding in these areas.”
ALSO READ: Economic fears as Africa escalates coronavirus response
Sisulu added that 29 congested townships have also been identified in Gauteng, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
"We - in partnership with the CSIR - used a heat map to identify the areas where we have serious congestion.
"These are areas where we need to go in and try and see if it not possible to de-densify and also see if it is not possible to provide all the necessary sanitation to them at their doorstep.
"We would like to appeal to the people who live in these densely populated areas to try and de-densify these areas.”
Details on how the communities will be spread out will follow at a later stage.