Cape Town - The deputy mayor of the City of Cape Town has warned that authorities will crack down on the flourishing black market in water trade.
Ian Neilson said water shops have sprung up and in many cases people are simply using municipal water to sell on.
"We are acting in these cases and have raided these outlets - you cannot be a water reseller without a licence to do that," he said at a press conference in Cape Town on Wednesday.
He said the current panic buying and stockpiling of 5 litre water bottles was a result of "human fear" and is being discouraged.
Neilson was addressing the media alongside Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane about the current water crisis in Cape Town.
Day Zero has been moved out by four weeks to May 11, as result of conservative projections, Neilson said.
Cape Town deputy mayor Ian Neilson and Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane address media about the current water crisis in Cape Town. Video: Catherine Rice/ANA
He said harsher restrictions should have been imposed in November last year: "We were for many months sitting around 600 mega litres per day. if we had continued like that we would have run out of water. You would have to ask the mayor why she did not institute the level six measures that I have driven and that were adopted by Council."
Under fire Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has been removed from leading the City's management of the water crisis amid a storm around her leadership of the DA-led metro.
Neilson said each year the national department of water and sanitation committed an amount to the City of Cape Town. In November last year, the allocation for the year until October 2018 was 174.4 million cubic litres.
He said he and Western Cape premier Helen Zille will meet with water and sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane later on Wednesday to ask her to commit that amount to the City and give the assurance that it will remain the same.