Drought: Eight provinces declared disaster areas
Eight of South Africa's nine provinces, have now been declared disaster areas, due to the devastating drought.
Gauteng is the only province spared by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
Deputy minister of Co-operative Governance, Andries Nel, says even though climate change is the culprit, it's impact has been exacerbated by problems in water infrastructure.
"High incidents of leaking pipes is something local government is working hard to address. We've encouraged departments, provinces and local government to use money out of their own budget to provide much-needed drought assistance.
"We've encouraged those departments to report to the National Disaster Management Centre where they've used all available local money so that the sentries can release national disaster funds," he said.
KwaZulu-Natal is one of the worst affected provinces.