25 October 2018
The South African Defence Force (SANDF) has been roped in to assist in the fight to end the Vaal River water crisis.
Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, announced during his inaugural Medium Term Budget Policy Statement that President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Minister of Defence, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, have agreed to have the military assist with engineering and other expertise to help fix the problem. Mboweni says Treasury is dealing decisively and urgently with the water crisis. He explained that they will be doing this by mobilising short-term financing by reprioritising funds and increasing capacity. The newly appointed Finance Minister stresses that “water is critical and that current water delivery models are not working in many cases”.