Pine took the opportunity availed by the President inviting citizens to write to him ahead of his State of the Nation Address and share the challenges they are facing in their communities.

In the letter sent via email, Pine told Zuma that the community members were mostly aged and sick and facing a water shortage. They rely on rain to harvest water.

“There are water pipes and machines installed but the problem is said to be pressure to pump water. Could your office kindly assist with the powers that be?” Pine asked Zuma in the letter.

Delivering his State of the Nation Address, Zuma promised to send Molewa to investigate the matter with a view to finding an urgent solution.

Zuma acknowledged that water expansion had been delayed in some parts of the country due to a lack of infrastructure.

“Government continues to extend access to basic water supply, however, clearly, water access is still a challenge in some areas.”

He assured South Africans that this was being attended to as five new water augmentation schemes were on schedule. These include Olifants River Water Resource in Steelpoort in Limpopo; the Vaal River Eastern Sub-System in Secunda in Mpumalanga; Komati Water Augmentation Scheme in Nkangala in Mpumalanga; the raising of Hazelmere dam in KwaZulu-Natal and the Clan William Dam in Clan William in the Western Cape.

In addition, nine out of 25 dams have been rehabilitated.