Government says national state of disaster over drought has been lifted
The government said on Wednesday that the national state of disaster it declared in March over a drought that has ravaged parts of the country, had lapsed after significant rainfall. The three-year drought hit Cape Town particularly hard, threatening to leave residents of the city without drinking water. The government said it had conducted assessments that showed that the severe phase of the drought that affected agricultural production in a number of provinces was over. Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize "confirmed that a national state of disaster that was declared on March 13 2018 has lapsed". More than R400m was mobilised from various disaster grants to implement relief operations in an attempt to avoid turning taps off under a so-called "day zero" scenario and provide water to all regions. The drought has affected water-intensive companies, such as wine makers, who make up 11% of the southwestern region’s economic output and sustain 300,000 j...
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