Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa says the lack of proper maintenance, leaking and ailing infrastructure are the causes of the water shortages in Rustenburg, Mafikeng, Tlokwe and Lichtenburg in the North West.

She says 50 % of the water in the country is lost due to leakages. Molewa handed over resuscitated bore holes to the rural community of Refentse in the Madibeng local Municipality near Brits.

The bore holes went out of use due to lack of maintenance. Molewa says the government has a 10 year plan to address the water challenges in the country.

She says: “Any new infrastructure that we build has got to have an operations and maintenance plan so that we don’t remain in the back log and continuously build new infrastructure that require the same kind of attention as we go ahead. We require over R 730 billion to fix infrastructure, from agricultural sector to households and everywhere else.”

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