Cape Town’s water crisis highlights city’s divide between rich and poor

Day Zero is approaching as Cape Town in South Africa prepares to turn off most water taps amid the worst drought in a century.

Tensions among the four million residents are highlighting a class divide.

The tourist destination has sprawling shanty settlements and high-income seafront neighbourhoods.

Some say poorer residents are being unfairly blamed as concerns rise over wasting precious water.

The military is prepared to help secure water collection points if Day Zero – a possible shut-off in April – arrives.

The Associated Press is exploring how residents are coping as water restrictions tighten in an attempt to avoid a shut-off.

Kirsty Carden, with the Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town, pointed to the city’s leafy suburbs. “It has been in the areas where people have gardens, they have swimming pools and they are much more profligate in the way that they use water, because they’re used to the water just coming out of the taps,” she said.

About a quarter of Cape Town’s population lives in the poor settlements, where they get water from communal taps, Ms Carden said.

“And there are always pictures of running taps and broken fixtures and ‘look at the leakage’ and all the rest. But the reality is that those one million people out of a population of four [million] use only 4.5 per cent of the water.”

In one of the crowded settlements, resident Vuyo Kazi washed her laundry outside. “Before, I was using two kettles of water to wash myself,” she said. “Now I use just one.”

Under restrictions that began on Thursday, residents are asked to use no more than 50 litres of water per person a day – down from 87 litres.

The use of city drinking water to wash vehicles, hose down paved areas, fill up private swimming pools and water gardens is illegal.

Cape Town authorities have vowed to fine residents who use more than 50 litres a day.