Coalition to fight city’s water ‘privatisation’

LOBBY group Water Crisis Coalition (WCC) is mobilising locals for a mass protest against the City of Cape Town next week, claiming its Day Zero campaign was aimed at water privatisation.

The coalition has already gathered thousands of signatures for the online petition it intends to hand over to acting city manager Lungelo Mbandazayo on Wednesday.

The protest, which will take place in the CBD, will be co-organised with the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), which was formed last year to represent workers’ interests.

The lengthy petition claims “there was no scientific basis for Day Zero and their (city’s) aim was to privatise our water”.

The protest is planned to register local objections to the city council’s proposed 2018-19 budget, which is open for public comment until May 4.

Shanel Johannes, a coalition organiser, said they were “completely against the privatisation of water”.

“When we formed in mid-January one of the first things we did was to open the Newlands spring for public access. There are more springs that we want to open. We know there is water,” she said.

“We have a rolling campaign to hold meetings in communities that are taking ownership of their struggle.”

The WCC’s online petition claims the city’s budget for 2018/19 is “unaffordable, unfair, unreasonable, untrue, unwise, unjust and unacceptable”.

It adds: “We say no to desalination; stop the dumping of all waste into the sea. Use recycled water for sanitation and recharging the aquifers.

“Stop the installation of water management devices; remove those already installed and reverse the charges and fines for them. We demand an independent investigation into the tenders of the water meters. Scrap all arrears, scrap all incorrect bills.”

Councillor Xanthea Limberg, the mayoral committee member for water, said the coalition’s “statements seem to be ill-informed and not based on evidence or science”.

“The desalination plants will have online monitoring equipment to monitor the efficacy of the desalination process and adherence to the standard,” she said.

Limberg defended Day Zero, the city’s campaign to motivate locals to save water.

“The potential for a Day Zero is and never was a myth. We conservatively projected it based on the actual rate of fall in dam levels,” said Limberg.

“The city would never jeopardise its residents, businesses and economy unnecessarily by faking a Day Zero projection just as a scare tactic.

“The water crisis is real. Just have a look at our dams to get the correct picture,” she said

Councillor Johan van der Merwe, mayoral committee member for finance, meanwhile said the 2018/19 budget had not been approved yet.

“The draft budget public participation process is under way and ends on May 4. The city is therefore not in a position to pre-empt this process or outcomes,” he said

“The city has 650 000 (water) connections which are billed, thus any incidences of incorrect billing, of which some would reasonably be expected, would need to be seen in the light of the total volume of bills that are issued timeously and accurately per month.

“Arrears are already written off for registered indigent people. This is a once-off lifeline. In return, beneficiaries agree to payment arrangements to encourage a culture of payment as well as the sustainability of the city.”