Please see the City’s response to ‘Water tariff explanations will not impress ratepayers– Cape Chamber’, published on 23 September 2020 on Politicsweb.
29 September 2020
The City of Cape Town notes inaccurate and reckless claims by Mr Geoff Jacobs that the drought was somehow used to exploit residents.
The drought had a severely disruptive effect on the water delivery system, with emergency water restriction measures resulting in serious revenue shortfalls, even despite increases in the tariffs.
We would like to reassure Mr Jacobs that many cuts have been made throughout the City over the years to compensate for revenue shortfalls in the water and sanitation service. There are just limits to what can be cut without creating additional risks to the service in the long term, especially given the extra costs we now face. Efficiencies in the system currently enable the City to deliver water that costs on average less than 6 cents per litre compared to R10 for bottled water.
Given how vital water is to life, ensuring it is available into the future is of highest priority for us all, and this requires a certain level of continual investment.