A very good afternoon to:

Advocate Hashatse, Chairperson of the Rand Water Board,

Mr Sipho Mosai, the Chief Executive of Rand Water,

Members of the media here today and those connected on the various platforms

Citizens of the Republic of South Africa,

Thank you for honouring our invite.

• We are drawing closer to the end of Water month – but our commitment to delivering water and sanitation services to the citizens of the Republic is without end.

• Whilst we continue to face challenges brought on by drought, climate change, corruption and South Africa being a water scare country, we as the Department of Water and Sanitation, along with our entities, are hard at work in ensuring that there is a
constant supply of water – even amidst all these challenges.

• Now, given that we deal with infrastructure that sees to different functions, and also handles different matter, maintenance in respect of same is necessary.

• There is unfortunately no opportune time to carry out maintenance of pipelines or water infrastructure. Water is a commodity which needs to be in continuous supply but in order to ensure longevity of this supply, maintenance is a necessity.

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