The City of Cape Town is naming alleged water abusers and has accused residents of “politicising the water crisis” (Alderman JP Smith last week).
But they’re not taking responsibility for the lack of transparency, and sometimes questionable information about overall water consumption and the water shortage, as their lack of response to my (and others’) queries show.
They ignore questions about their lack/level of compliance with their own water restrictions imposed from January 2015 (level 2 onwards), including that all government departments and businesses must install “water-efficient parts and technologies”.
They don’t accept responsibility for their inadequate measures and lack of planning, especially since 2015 when there was below-average rainfall.
This week, UCT's Dr Kevin Winter called the current restrictions “too little, too late”.The “measurable evidence” is that rainfall is happening in a different pattern from before. In 2005 dams reached an “all-time low of 26%”, but there is more uncertainty due to climate change.
The DA, city and Premier Helen Zille use migration to and investment in the city as proof of their “good governance”.
Over the past 16 years, the population has grown from 2.9 to 3.7 million people – 29% growth – but the same number of dams supplies it, not counting “measurable” unpredictable rainfall due to climate change.
So for 10 years the supposedly super-efficient, visionary DA apparently sat on their butts and mutually stroked their egos about “clean audits” and let the situation unfold, particularly since the water shortage shock in 2005.
Let’s talk about the billion rand elephant in the city – the DA’s and mayor Patricia de Lille’s development-at-all-cost, let’s concrete the city, policy.
In 2006 the city’s then head of wastewater told me during an interview for a research project I was conducting (I have a redundant Master’s degree in urban infrastructure management) that in his opinion developers were not paying enough to connect to the city’s water and sanitation networks, which imposed additional loads on an already stressed and ageing infrastructure. That was 10 years ago. How many new developments have been built since?
So for the past few years the DA’s/De Lille’s developer-first policy is adding to an already stressed water supply and contradicts their pleas, and threats. We, households – not developers/businesses, must conserve.
How much water will the controversial, block-wide R1 billion Bo-Kaap development, which was approved despite overwhelming objections from residents and planning professionals, use?
Speaking of which, this week Groundup reports: “Mayor Patricia de Lille has threatened to sue architect and UCT Emeritus Professor Fabio Todeschini after he publicly accused her of being the source of the city council’s ‘crass development-at-all-costs culture’ which is harming Cape Town.”
I have criticised De Lille in particular and the DA in general about the same.
But the water crisis is laying bare their hypocrisy – blaming households for the crisis when it’s really to hide their incompetence, lack of foresight and planning, too little, too late approach and disparity – really favouritism for businesses – about applying water restrictions.
But fellow citizens, you (I warned you about them) gave them an overwhelming majority in 2016’s municipal elections. So live with the consequences.