Day Zero Declared!

Drought and poor infrastructure have left thousands of people in the Eastern Cape with no access to water

- Lesego Seokwang

Just two years ago Capetonians in the grip of a devastating drought narrowly avoided Day Zero – the day the taps were due to run dry. Steady winter rains have filled dams in the Western Cape to the brim – but 900km away, dry taps are exactly what residents are having to contend with.

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality in the Eastern Cape recently declared Day Zero, leaving thousands without access to the precious resource.

For the past few years, the province has been plagued by drought and though residents have been living with strict water restrictions, they say taps were turned off last month without warning.

“There was suddenly no water delivery at all to houses, especially in the western and northern areas, as well as informal settlements,” says Ronelle Friend, an environmental chemist who lives in Despatch.

“The council claimed we had hit Day Zero, but there was no gradual countdown, so we weren’t prepared for it.”

In nearby Malabar, people were so desperate for water they flocked to the home of Ebrahim Soomar (75), who has a natural spring running through his yard. Three years ago, the pensioner and his family agreed neighbours could fetch water from taps he had installed outside a boundary wall.

“A few people come by intermittently now and then, but nothing quite like the beginning of September,” he says.

When the taps ran dry for days on end, snaking queues of people could be seen outside his yard carrying large water containers.

The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces that’s been hardest hit by climate change in the country, environmentalists say.