Day Zero: farmers in the Western Cape forbidden to use water

We smiled grimly at a tweet yesterday, Boere mag nie meer pomp nie, with an accompanying comment: “Ek voel rerig jammer vir die ouens in die Kaap” (I feel really sorry for the guys in the Cape). The English “farmers may not pump anymore” misses out on the bawdy innuendo.

There is nothing amusing about not being allowed water for your crops, of course.

Today, the Landbouweekblad leads with the story "Boere se dag zero het aangebreek". Farmers on the Cape peninsular, particularly those on irrigation schemes, are left with few prospects of maintaining their businesses. There are salaries and bills to pay, but without water these enterprises will collapse. Water, like the soil itself, is central to agriculture.

The prospect of a metropolis running out of water is a bleak one indeed, and several international news outlets are joining the South African ones in paying attention to the unfolding drama.

The other tweet I saw, a non-DA person encouraging Black Capetonians to waste water, is short-sighted. It is not in anyone’s interest that a city runs out of water.

I can’t even turn the tap on to wash my hands or brush my teeth without remembering the Western Cape.

For our overseas readers: the Western Cape, a South African success story, is the only province not run by the governing political party.