MAGDA WIERZYCKA: Dry words too late in a too-dire water crisis

We have all watched with great optimism the new commitment of the ANC to rebuilding SA since the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as party president. He has not disappointed, tackling corruption, financial mismanagement of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), state capture and the absurdity of procuring nuclear energy with lightning speed.

However, there is another looming disaster that has the potential to generate more negative headlines about SA than we have seen before, bring the economy of the Western Cape to its knees, affect tourism for years to come, destroy jobs and ultimately cause disease and death.

The Cape Town water crisis is a case study for how to mismanage a world-class city.

Instead of solutions we have consistently had blame-shifting and contradictory messages from the politicians in charge.

Here are some of the facts: the city is expected to officially run out of water on April 12, although the maths involved in calculating the date remain sketchy. When that happens, the taps will be turned off.

Twenty-five litres of water per person will be made available at an undefined number of distribution points. Have you ever tried carrying 25l of water? Never mind 100l for a family of four.

The politicians have only now realised they will need to allow vehicular access. No logistics around the water points have been tested.

In a city of 4-million people, if 2-million depend on those distribution points — with planned estimates for about 200 of them — that’s 10,000 people per distribution point per day.

There are no concrete plans for the elderly or the infirm, apart from reliance on volunteers and neighbourhood watches. Restaurants, hotels and small businesses will close. People will let their domestic staff go.

Cape Town needs intervention from the highest level to come up with an emergency plan.

And yet, from a political perspective, there is only downside. Whoever puts up their hand is unlikely to succeed in averting the crisis. The time for well-designed plans and viable solutions more than likely has passed. This situation will affect perceptions of SA for years to come. And yet, the cost of salvaging the situation a year ago would have been less than the cost of bailing out South African Airways and the Post Office.

Desalination plants should have been built, reticulation of water should have been implemented and water-saving measures should have been enforced. Funding for infrastructure was plentiful.

And yet political infighting, inertia and the sheer ineptitude of those in charge have left us facing a humanitarian crisis unseen in the modern world.

Is intervention at the last minute possible? It could help, but it needs to be drastic. Taps should be cut off periodically; water reuse treatment plants could be installed at the city’s large sewage treatment plants, which would allow grey water to be pumped through existing water infrastructure; all construction should halt; water distribution points should be tested; boreholes should be drilled in residential areas for communal use; water cut-off devices should be introduced everywhere at a rapid pace; a war room staffed with experts should be established; portable desalination plants should be rented and flown in – the list goes on.

Instead we have some Band-Aid measures, a badly managed public relations strategy and lots of words.

Once again, business should have been more vocal. But we were all too fascinated with the Zuptas to care about what was happening in our backyard. Now we will pay the price.

• Wierzycka (@Magda_Wierzycka) is Sygnia Group CEO.