Order! Order!
The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION: The hon
member will no doubt know that we have just come out of a very severe drought, especially in KwaZulu-Natal. He wants to know which areas and water services authorities are affected by the water scarcity in the area. He wants to know what we are doing about Ugu district in particular.
We do know that Ugu district has been extremely adversely affected by water shortages. I want to assure the hon member that one of the reasons I was caught up in this discussion with the Minister of Finance is because we need to get more resources for this to augment the support he has given for the resources we already have. He has agreed and he has signed off on
additional resources to offset the problems that we have in KwaZulu-Natal.
So, hon member, we do have a detailed ... All of these things I will give to the member. I'm not sure that I am able see which member it is. All of these will be sent to you so that you understand exactly what the detail is. [Interjections.]
One of the first things that happened to me as a Minister of water services is that I was approached by the MEC of the province for local government to indicate to me the problems they are having with water services there. He invited me over, and we spent two days in KwaZulu-Natal, together with the Umgeni Water Board, trying to understand what we are doing to support those areas where we have serious problems. I can assure you that Ugu counts as one the districts most in need of support and was given such support by the resources that we have.
Over and above the fact that we have problems that we have a water scarcity, we did discover that one of the areas that we need to support sufficiently is that of the municipalities. The
municipalities have a great deal of responsibility to ensure that the water and the support that is given to them in the maintenance of water tanks and boreholes reside with them and we do not have the kind of support from them that we should have.
But I will be able to give all of this to you in answer to your question.
The question further continues to ask what the other areas are that are ...