EASTERN CAPE - GRAAF-REINET FACES WORST DROUGHT IN OVER A CENTURY AS DRY SPELL HITS IT'S 4TH YEAR

Residents of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape are experiencing the worst drought in more than a century.

The municipality says it's drilling boreholes and building a new reservoir and government has pledged to tackle the water crisis with a new master plan.

But in the meantime, residents have to rely on the goodwill of others.

The Karoo region has always been parched. Karoo means 'land of thirst' in the language of its earliest inhabitants, the Khoisan hunter-gatherers.

Yet nothing prepared residents of its oldest colonial town for their worst drought in more than a century.

With the dry spell in its fourth year, the situation is desperate.

Thousands of dead fish lie on cracked earth, deposited by a receding dam and farmers' animals are dying in their hundreds.

The impact is widespread, and while the water that NGOs like Gift of the Givers hand out is welcomed, it's not enough.

Community members say the only thing they can do now, is pray for rain.