Clarification on our feature

● On January 28 we ran two pages of reports on the water crisis in the Western Cape. One of these pages was sponsored by the Department of Water Affairs and carried comments critical of the DA.

Although the initial draft of the page had the department’s logo on it — an indication to our readers that it was a sponsored page — this was changed by sales staff without alerting the editor.

The editor will have final approval in future. In the meantime, we apologise to our readers for the oversight.

The DA has also asked for a right of reply. Here is DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s response:

“Just less than two months ago, Cape Town was in a dire position. Due to the worst drought the city had seen in over 100 years, its water supply was near depletion, and ‘Day Zero’ was set to arrive on April 12 2018.

“I was not satisfied with the way the crisis had been handled up until then. I therefore decided to take political control of the situation, appoint a drought crisis team, and commit to fighting this water crisis.

“We made one thing clear: to fight this water crisis and defeat Day Zero, we had to band together and mobilise public support around cutting consumption to record lows.

“Cape Town residents responded magnificently, rolled up their sleeves, and got stuck in. Everyone played their part in this city-wide collective effort to keep the taps open.

“Each week, the water consumption steadily dropped, and we were able to push back Day Zero by days, and then weeks, and then months.

“It is thanks to the people of Cape Town that — provided we continue consuming water at current levels and we receive decent winter rainfall this year — Day Zero will not occur in 2018. The taps will stay open this year.

“Consumption now sits at between 510 million and 520 million litres per day — down from almost 1.2 billion litres in February 2015.

“This 60% reduction in consumption outperforms many other cities across the world which faced severe droughts — including São Paulo, Melbourne, as well as the state of California.

“The significance of this effort cannot be overstated. The sustained dedication and fortitude of all residents are the primary reason for this.

“However, while we must celebrate our collective achievement, this is not the time for complacency. Current consumption levels cannot increase until at least after the winter rainfall. If we continue to use 50 litres of water or less per day, Day Zero can be defeated in its entirety.

“In the context of climate change, South Africans ought to accept and appreciate that we have a new relationship with water. The people of Cape Town are leading this charge.”