Disaster teams prepare for crisis
Proposals, meetings to ready city for day the water runs out
THE CITY and province has gone into full emergency mode in preparation for Day Zero when taps run dry with Premier Helen Zille meeting National Disaster Management, the SAPS, the South African Defence Force, the State Security Agency and other role players in Cape Town today to prepare for that fateful day and its aftermath.
Zille will also receive a briefing from the various role players in the disaster management team and address the media afterwards.
She said in a previous briefing that the army will assist with water trucks and dispensing water to residents. Around 200 collection points have also been identified by the City and some places informed that their premises and properties will be used as collections points.
However when Day Zero arrives and taps run dry, it won’t exempt Cape Town residents from still paying for their non-existent water. Deputy mayor Ian Neilson, who has taken over as the point man on the City’s water crisis, is toying with the idea of everybody paying a compulsory flat rate to prop up City coffers.
After moving a motion that stripped mayor Patricia de Lille of some of her powers relating to the water crisis, Neilson said the City has for years used a consumptive charge for water and sanitation charges.
“That system has worked before because the circumstances were different. There was water, but now we are in very different circumstances. We have seen all the problems we have and in these circumstances you can’t use a consumptive charge tariff,” Neilson said.
The City will suffer a R1.7 billion shortfall from water sales as thousands of Cape Town are saving water and consuming less which means residents are being charged less.
To make up for the shortfall De Lille proposed a drought charge which was scrapped in council. The City has now approved a punitive tariff for consumers who use more than 6 000 litres water a month while the City is going to look for financial help from the provincial and national government.
Meanwhile, De Lille was thrown under the proverbial bus when her own caucus voted to have some of her powers stripped. When voting took place, 125 councillors voted in favour of the motion, 57 voted against it and there were three abstentions.
The motion, moved by Neilson, was supported by Xanthea Limberg, Mayco member for water and sanitation.
Although De Lille will retain her statutory powers, she will no longer be able to make decisions on the water crisis without the consent of her full mayoral committee.