The cash-strapped Makanda Municipality in the Eastern Cape is optimistic that it will find a lasting solution with the Gift of the Givers which has been assisting the drought-stricken Makhanda with water sourcing. The Gift of the Givers has announced that it was withdrawing its services after the Department of Water and Sanitation refused to pay service providers used by the organisation. The founder of Gift of the Givers, Imtiaz Sooliman says the department has failed to pay service providers for the drilling of fifteen boreholes that cost them 15 million rand. He says the agreement was that they would be paid when funds from National Treasury were available - but that has not been fulfilled.