By 2018, the City of Cape Town (CCT) suffered a third consecutive year of serious drought. This article investigates the chronology of the drought and the various measures imposed by the city council to preserve dwindling water supplies in an effort to stave off the so-called ‘Day Zero’ scenario when its water reserves would apparently dry up. By means of contemporary sources, water governance sources and other relevant documentation, the trajectory of Cape Town’s water crisis and the political ramifications for its citizens is being investigated. Finally, lessons to be learnt from Cape Town’s dealing with its drought crisis, and other cities that found themselves in similar situations, will be discussed. An analysis of the political fallout and blaming of who should be held responsible for Cape Town’s precarious water situation is also presented. It seems that a combination of factors was responsible for the city’s relative unpreparedness in dealing with the drought: the politically fractured nature of South African multi-tiered government agencies and the lack of an integrated government approach to the drought; the CCT mayor’s unclear and negative communication to rate payers and ineffective water-saving proposals; a fallout between the CCT mayor and her political superiors over the effectiveness of her drought management plans; a dysfunctional, bankrupt and inert national Department of Water and Sanitation; and the expectation that the city’s expenditure on water supply schemes could be put on hold simply by saving the existing supply in the belief that it would remain stable.

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一场完美的风暴：开普敦干旱危机的后果

到2018年，开普敦市（CCT）连续第三年遭受严重干旱。本文研究了干旱的发生时间，以及市议会为保护日益减少的水供应而采取的各种措施，以期避免所谓的“零日”情景，即当其水资源储备明显枯竭时。通过当代资料，水管理资料和其他相关文件，正在调查开普敦的水危机轨迹及其对公民的政治影响。最后，将讨论从开普敦应对干旱危机以及其他处于类似情况的城市中汲取的经验教训。还对政治后果进行了分析，并归咎于谁应对开普敦不稳定的用水状况负责。似乎多种因素共同导致了该市在应对干旱方面相对缺乏准备：南非多层政府机构的政治分裂性质以及缺乏针对干旱的综合政府方法；CCT市长与差rate缴纳人的沟通不明确和负面，节水建议无效；CCT市长与她的政治上级之间关于干旱管理计划有效性的争执；国家水和卫生部门功能失调，破产且惰性的部门；并期望仅通过节省现有水量就可以维持该城市在供水计划上的支出，并认为这将保持稳定。