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Minister orders a study of available groundwater

GETTING STUCK IN: Minister of Land and Rural Development Gugile Nkwinti scoops concrete from a wheelbarrow as he helps to build toilets at a school in Muyexe village at the weekend.Pic: CHESTER MAKANA. 19/07/2009. © Sowetan.
GETTING STUCK IN: Minister of Land and Rural Development Gugile Nkwinti scoops concrete from a wheelbarrow as he helps to build toilets at a school in Muyexe village at the weekend.Pic: CHESTER MAKANA. 19/07/2009. © Sowetan.

THE Minister of Land and Rural Development Gugile Nkwinti has ordered the Limpopo government to conduct research on the availability of groundwater at Muyexe village outside Giyani.

THE Minister of Land and Rural Development Gugile Nkwinti has ordered the Limpopo government to conduct research on the availability of groundwater at Muyexe village outside Giyani.

Nkwinti's order comes after concern that water shortages were threatening lives in villages and planned agricultural development as part of a pilot project in the area.

The greater Mopani area is faced with serious water shortages as a result of periodical droughts along catchment rivers that supply Greater Letaba Dam.

Nkwinti said the government was aware of problems in Muyexe and some projects in the area needed water for their pilot project to succeed.

Nkwinti visited the area last week as part of preparations for a rural development foundation under the newly formed department, which seeks to develop rural areas.

"We have listened to the problems of the communities about water and asked the municipality and water affairs to look for water underground," Nkwinti said.

He said groundwater was an immediate solution, while they were looking for a lasting solution to the crisis.

Muyexe and two neighbouring villages were chosen as areas needing urgent intervention while the government was finalising a rural development programme.

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