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Improvement in service delivery the silver lining in COVID-19 lockdown dark cloud

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As South Africa continues to be on the 21-day lockdown, service delivery has seen an increase among many communities in the country. This, as the Department of Water and Sanitation has delivered thousands of water tanks to many areas who suffer  dire shortage of water, in order to assist locals to keep hygiene during this time.

Following an announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that South Africa will be on a 21-day lockdown, it became quite predominant that many South Africans are not being taken into consideration when it came to basic services.

Water being the main concern for many citizens across Limpopo, Free State, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and some areas in the Western Cape, saw the Department of Water and Sanitation up its sleeves and delivered thousands of water tanks to the many affected areas.

In the Maluti-A-Phofung Municipality residents finally, get access to water: 

During this lockdown, citizens are urged to constantly wash their hands with water and soap.

The inforgraphic below shows measures to curb the spread of COVID-19: 

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On Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Rand Water in Johannesburg to assess if the water supply continues as per the requirements.

He said this incident, which saw the world shutter due to coronavirus pandemic, shows that government has what it takes to deliver services to locals, timeously.

In the video below, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he is pleased with how things are operating at Rand Water: 

Local Government Expert, Tshepang Molale says this is a testing time for the president to make sure that this continues beyond COVID-19, because South Africans would want to see a continuation of this maximum commitment by government.

“We have seen government ministers and the president being hands-on recently, giving us updates on their role on a daily basis led by the Minister of Health who is criss-crossing the country to see how is it that they are doing,  in terms of responding to this COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve also seen the president doing the same as Police Minister, criss-crossing the country to see progress made. In terms of checks and balances, Parliament and Provincial Legislatures are not in session, meaning that they unable to hold the public representatives accountable.”

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said he is still assessing the impact of the 21-day lockdown and will determine whether or not the lockdown will be extended.

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