Water is an important factor within any life, whether it be an adult, child, dog, even our plants. To make an example when plants are watered, they grow – some form into flowers some produce vegetables which ultimately ends up on our store shelves and eventually in our stomachs. As humans we need water for mere survival ! Notice the pattern ? Any consistent inadequacies in that cycle could mean a national economic and biological disaster.
As a South African we are currently experiencing as the media would say – a drought, though I do not like using the word drought because it means “a scarcity of rain”, AND in reality this is not the case! To my knowledge we’ve experienced more rain this year in each city in South Africa than any other year. Cape Town has had at least 2 major storms in 2017 and rainfall like no other year has seen, other cities like KZN and Gauteng has also received floods this year so badly that it killed 2 and left 400 displaced. Rain has not been a scarcity ! – so why are we facing a ‘drought’ ?
And for that matter, if we truly are facing a drought then should this not have been seen beforehand by weather and climate analysts ? If not them then what about the Minister of Waste and Water ? Are we as South Africans now victims of a group of people that could not firstly foresee and secondly plan ? How is it possible that no one strategically planned for this epidemic ? And also if knowledge was known of this epidemic before it was one – why was there no preventative measures taken then ?
The blatant ignorance is seen with the Executive Mayor of Cape Town who tweeted how much water she uses per day only to realize afterwards that her water usage was 2 litres over the limit. If a matter of such importance is not taking seriously by the Mayor how can we expect citizens to abide, or are politicians above the rules that citizens are given to follow? This attitude coming from a Mayor that’s Campaign logo screams ‘fairness and opportunity for all’. To point out another matter maybe the Mayor felt the need to restrict water is not that much of a dire need, and if so – this supports my theory that a drought is not the reason for water restrictions and in fact there is no lack of water in South Africa as officials would like us to believe.
Tap water has gone from pure white to an eery brown with sand-like particles drifting in it from beginning of 2017, citizens complained about stomach bugs shortly thereafter and as if only awoken to this issue then the news were officially made public – to not drink the tap water because of impurities. So I am a bit in the dark to what the real reason is to us being restricted – The sudden impurities in our water ? The drought ?
Could this be a sly plot to economize water in a third world country ?
An element that is as much needed as the air in our lungs. One can only imagine the impact this has on the poorest of the poor. Those who cannot afford to pay for the very thing that is as much a right as it is a need. In smaller rural areas in South Africa there is still the problem of communities not having access to clean water. We are a third world country, problems are bound to incur but I strongly think depriving a citizen of this fundamental element is an attack on his humanity. I personally boil tap water first, wait for it to cool down and then I’ll sip away ! What happens to those who first of all already struggles to get the water and then eventually when they do get it they do not have the resources to purify it. Vicious, disturbing and sad norm, indeed.
Things definitely fall apart when not maintained as Theuns Eloff writes in a Report about South Africa’s infrastructure. This could not be more true, now as it was then – when their was still enough time to act wisely and with proper skill to mend this oh-so-violently-infected crisis.
Photos and these links are provided to support my story. Thanks for reading !
http://www.dailyvoice.co.za/news/expect-a-spike-in-your-bill-if-you-exceed-3500l-monthly-limit/
http://politicsweb.co.za/opinion/things-fall-apart-without-maintenance
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