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Gift of the Givers to send water tankers to drought stricken Makhanda

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Relief organisation, Gift of the Givers, says it will urgently intervene to assist with the water crisis in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape.

The small city has been facing water woes for the last four years linked to infrastructure problems and the crippling drought. Residents and local businesses have been hit with erratic water cuts on a daily basis. But the situation is again critical as the water supply to the town has virtually dried up.

Imtiaz Suliman of the Gift of the Givers says they will send additional water tankers and JoJo tanks from neighbouring towns to assist the city.

“Gift of the Givers water tanker from Adelaide will arrive to assist our existing water tanker in Makhanda. Five JoJo tanks will accompany the water tanker and will be rendered functional immediately. Gift of the Givers drilling teams will investigate the pump failure at Waainek and look at making the seven boreholes drilled by us, functional. The municipality water tanker and another one being sent by Amathole District Municipality will work in unison with Gift of the Givers tankers, all drawing water from Ntsika borehole, which we corrected two weeks ago with new filters and chemicals. We will work jointly with the municipality to research a sustainable permanent solution, all depending on cost and funding availability.”

Meanwhile, Gift of the Givers, has recently donated six boreholes to the drought-stricken town of Adelaide and surrounding areas.

This will bring some relief to communities and businesses that rely on water for daily operations.

The drought and aging infrastructure are the major contributors to water scarcity in Adelaide.

Supply dam levels have dropped significantly.

Prolonged Eastern Cape drought threatens livelihoods:

Residents have only had access to water on certain days.

Gift of the Givers has again come to the rescue.

The organisation’s Aly Salby says some communities have had no water for the past seven years.

“As we know in November 2020, Adelaide reached day zero. They had no water at all as the dam was completely empty and that’s when our chairman visited the town and decided to build an additional six boreholes. That’s what we are doing now. We are handing over six boreholes. Some of these communities had no water for the past seven years and we are here today to open these boreholes which will help Adelaide.”

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