Capturing Water (2024) Movie Script
1
(hopeful cinematic music)
(strong gusts of wind blowing
heavy rain clouds)
(wind blows)
(mystical drones
of wind instruments)
(harp notes and crashing waves)
The Cape Peninsula, Cape Town
a place of natural beauty
and temperate climate.
(waves and music)
(splash)
Here water flows
across the land in
seeming abundance.
(feet kicking underwater)
We love to be near the streams,
rivers, lakes and the oceans.
(underwater sounds and waves)
Its flow calms us.
Reassures us that all is well.
And reminds us
that water is life.
Before the Europeans arrived,
the area of Cape Town
was called Camissa,
meaning sweet waters that flowed
from the mountain streams.
It watered the Dutch fleet
and the growing settlement.
The expanding
desires of the colonists
soon led to the Khoi and San,
the indigenous peoples,
violently losing their land
and the water that
sustained them.
Their food and knowledge system
that viewed water as sacred
was erased.
In their place, enslaved
people were imported
to meet the labour needs
of the new plantations,
and a form of
extraction developed
called racial capitalism.
This colonial past continues
to weigh heavily on the present.
(boat horn and
suspenseful music)
And nowhere is this more evident
than with the
city's water crisis.
(suspenseful atmospheric music)
Day zero will happen
when the dams reach 13.5%.
Forgive our sins.
Bring rain to the land.
Plenty rain.
(crowd praying)
And I pray in the
name of Jesus father.
We can no longer ask people
to stop wasting water.
We now have to force them.
Fearing possible unrest
the military was put on
standby to supervise
the proposed water
distribution points.
Councilor Geordin Hill-Lewis
is duly elected
as the mayor for the
City of Cape Town.
The mayor makes it clear
that in his term of office,
he will seek to solve
the massive water
and sanitation crisis.
My fellow Capetonians, the
purpose we have
chosen to fulfill
is to turn Cape Town
into a beacon of hope
for South Africa
at a time when millions
of our citizens
believe that our country is past
the point of no return,
and where local governments
can do nothing more
than manage decline.
I am not one of those people,
and this will not be
one of those governments
Today, the annual rainfall
continues to be insufficient
and water supplied to
the city's working poor
remains highly restricted.
Is there another way?
And if so, where do we look to
for solutions?
(cinematic music)
(inaudible chatter)
(water being poured into a jug)
(water being poured into kettle)
(inaudible background chatter)
So we have been storing water
as you can see, in different
types of containers and bottles,
five liter bottles.
But as were storing,
we also using it
so that we don't end up
with water that's
standing too long.
But it's more of a
safety precaution
because we've been threatened
by the city of Cape Town
over months, now,
that they're going
to put us on the drip system
because we're using more than
500 liters of water per day.
Now, this is not just for us.
That counts for us,
who lives in the backyard
and I think we are about
12 living here at the moment.
And so we can't
afford to be without water.
(boiling water and steam)
(Narrator) The city's attempt
to avert catastrophe,
day zero
came out of a terrible drought.
In the years that followed,
policies have been introduced to
restrict household consumption
and consolidate
control over water.
(stirring of coffee)
They were telling
the poor to save water,
and they were asked to save
water that they don't have.
We see it happening
in communities
where people are
using too little water.
They are not using
what theyre supposed to.
They don't mentioned
backyarding.
They don't mention leaks.
All of those things clearly are
going to lead to this situation.
And we raised all of that.
And the response that
we got actually was
to say what we need
are responsible citizens.
There's no logic. You know, if
you look at the
actual statistics
of unemployment and
how much people have,
there's no way this can work.
Like there's no
way that you were
not going to get this letter.
(inaudible chatter
and footsteps)
(chatter and music)
In 1994, we had between
12 and 14 million households
that didn't have
access to water.
That's about 40 million people.
And if we jump ahead to 2019,
the state's own research shows
that there were 3.5
million households
that didn't have
access to clean water.
That's about 21
million people today.
Part of the problem
is that we have given
the human right to water
the same standing as the
corporate right to water.
This was the
negotiated settlement
where we kept private property.
Land was not returned.
Water was also not returned.
South Africa is the most unequal
country in the world.
Cape town is its
most racially unequal city.
(music)
(club whacks ball)
600,000 people of color
are on the waiting list
for social housing.
Many live in
informal settlements,
(traffic and drilling)
while real estate housing
developments are booming.
(traffic and drilling)
(heavy breathing)
- Good morning.
- Morning. How are you?
- Good and you?
- Yeah, thank you.
All right. Were off.
We can't just allow
totally unconstrained
water usage
of course.
So there does need to be
a basic allocation
er, that, for the poor.
And my understanding
at the last time
that I checked these
figures was that ours
was the most generous basic
allocation of any
in the country,
of any city in the country.
We give the most generous basic
allocation,
above which people do
need to start paying for the
services that they consume.
The price of water is not
so prohibitively expensive that,
an entire family where
even if most of the
family are unemployed,
that they would not be able
to pay something towards that.
And so I do think that's
an important principle
to establish in South Africa
that you must pay something
for the services
that you use over
and above the
indigency allocation.
(hands typing, car engine)
We have a city
that tells itself that
they are doing the utmost
to give to the poor, and this
is the language that they use.
And the problem with it is that
there's no sense of inequality
that actually links who has
water and who
doesn't have water.
(reflective music)
Day zero exposed
the very deep levels of
inequality in distribution
of the city's water.
Where just 13% of the population
were using 51% of the supply.
The cost recovery approach,
the stated need to
earn revenue from water
meant there was no real
motivation to encourage
wealthy households
to cut back on their use.
(reflective music)
(water pouring)
When it came to saving water,
the onus was on the
city's 2 million poor.
(water pouring)
Just one rand sugar,
and we buy one rand coffee. And
it works nicely for three cups.
(Faeza chuckling)
And the kids are saying now,
they brought me a container and
said I must put
the sugar in there
so that the camera don't
see we have one rand sugar.
And I said, you want us to lie?
Why are we not being...
This is our reality.
This is what we have.
So now, at the moment, as a
household,
it will be me and Ebrahiem.
It will be Ebrahiem's brother.
And then we have Eve.
Then there's, Junaid,
and then there's Zaheer
and theres Qiyaam,
and theres Raees
and theres Raeed, and
then theres Shaneeka,
and then there's Kelly,
and then there's Ishmaeel.
Is that it?
Mogamad Ishmaeel.
Oh, it's Mogamad Ishmaeel,
right.
It's that. Were 12.
So were 12. Yeah.
Yoh! A lot!
Already as a woman
it comes with responsibilities.
You have to do
everything in the house.
And you are
responsible for thinking
about everyone and
everyone's well-being.
And then there's the activism.
There's people in this road at
this moment,
that dont have water.
Thats our struggle.
(chatter of children playing)
(traffic and inaudible chatter)
(dog barking)
There's no
alternative for water.
There's nothing you
can replace water with.
Water is like the air
that we breathe.
If you stop breathing,
you're going to die.
If you stop drinking water,
you will die.
But what's happening to us
is we're dying slowly
because we're not
washing ourselves
like we're supposed to.
Our children are not drinking
enough water like
they're supposed to.
We are not doing
what we're supposed
to do to keep our bodies safe.
No?
So that is why for us, as the
African Water Commons Collective
water is key.
The city of Cape Town has now
changed this policy
last year and said
every household can
only use 500 or less.
If they use more than 500
they punish you.
(cough)
That statement says punish you.
Punish, like we are children.
They will slap our hands
when we dont listen.
That's how they treat us.
So after your second punishment
the city manager,
he has the sole priority,
the sole authority
to put you on prepaid.
Do you know what prepaid means?
When you buy water.
Like electricity boxes.
So ultimately, we are fighting
for people to have water coming
from their taps inside their
homes and enough for them to use
for all their basic needs,
and then
for us to be able
to achieve that
we have to get communities
conscientized.
We are focusing
on the issue of water
and people have
various other issues.
But it's important that we
fight for this now
because people cannot live
without water.
So in our group with the, the,
the ten house group...
So in the afternoon,
it's like they use up to between
150 and 170 liters.
It's basically the
same thing that
they do. Its lunch
they prepare.
They start with the main meal.
It's where they
start. The ladies
start with the main
meal for the night.
During the day
I'm trying to wash
our clothes and I'm cooking.
And water, we drink water.
Because the body needs a drink.
(clapping)
We are all using
water on basic needs.
I didn't see any one of
you list a swimming pool.
(inaudible chatter and laughter)
(friendly chatter)
If we really want
to cut water costs
what is water being used for?
Do we need what's being mined?
Do we need
wine, beer? The export
of our juices?
Or do we first need
to say what is enough?
What is enough for every person
to have enough drinking water?
Enough water to grow food with?
And beyond that, we can
deal with what the luxuries are.
(music and waterfall)
In the sweeping mountain ranges
on the continental
side of the Cape Flats,
the city built large water dams
made up of pristine
mountain streams,
providing millions
with fresh water.
(running water
and uplifting music)
The rainfall
that flows from the Table
Mountain range and percolates
into the ground, feeding the
water table of the Cape Flats
has recently been identified
as a new source of fresh water.
It's part of a huge lake
of underground water
called aquifers.
(water sprinklers and
contemplative music)
Is it safe to come?
Right.
Thats my wifes herb garden.
(papers rustling)
Okay. While doing this
work, I came
across a very
wise soil scientist,
Professor Auerbach
and he looked at me and said,
Nazeer, you know,
you must decide
what you're going to become.
Are you going to be an activist
or you're going to be a farmer?
At that time,
I had no hesitation.
I said, I want to be both.
But now I realize
that I suck at both.
(laughing)
But I'm forced to do both
because in order to farm,
I have to protect the area
in which I want to farm in.
(bird wings flapping,
breeze blowing)
(gentle music)
This is where you are.
Were in the Philippi
Horticultural Area.
It's 3000 hectares in extent.
Think of 3000 rugby
fields or football fields.
(gentle music)
We have an
abundant water supply.
We're literally walking
on water here.
There's a huge dam in the soil.
Now, this makes our
area drought proof.
In 2014, when I met Nazeer,
we'd heard that the urban
edge had been shifted.
It's really
desperately important
that you don't let go of
your drought proof farmland.
And it's one of the last
three green lungs
left in the city of Cape Town.
And so that's exactly what
you need to preserve
in a time of climate change.
(gentle music)
(water sprinklers)
The farmers need the aquifer
to support hundreds
of livelihoods
and thousands of jobs.
Farmers in the Philippi
Horticultural area
in Cape Town are concerned
about the possible loss of
agricultural land
due to developments.
Developers are
speculating in the
area and they're buying up land
and they are trying
to force re-zones.
They've been
campaigning since 2011,
when Western Cape
government approved
a proposal for
this section of land
to be open for
possible development.
(water sprinklers)
(chatter, insects,
distant traffic)
(cutlery, quiet movement)
So Nazeer is somebody
that can transform things
like anything, a patch of land,
and he will make
a beautiful farm
out of it and be so successful
with it as well.
Everything that you see around
here has Nazeers touch to it.
(water sprinklers)
They are challenging
the legality
of the process that was followed
to determine what can be done
with two pieces
of land in the...
that is no longer in the PHA.
To give you an idea...
To give you an idea
this is the bigger PHA area
the two pieces of land
we're talking about
are those two pieces there.
Okay,
so that was the shenanigans
at the steps of the court.
(chatter from video
playing on laptop)
So at one point, one court case,
Nazeer had to make the decision
that he was going
to use this house.
And if we lost the case,
we would lose the house, because
I don't have to pay for expenses
or how it worked, or
what it was.
But, um, yeah. And um,
it was just one of those things
that we had to face.
But I'm very proud to say that
this was our founding affidavit.
341 pages.
Imagine Nazeer
sitting in the police
station signing
every single page.
The farmland is worth much more
to the city as urban land.
So that land would be
worth a friendly bank
who's going to
donate to the party,
having 40,000 more mortgages
to be able to offer.
And then the city is also going
to get rates and taxes
from every single one of those
properties, even though the area
has been producing food
for the last 150 years.
The trouble is that it
does it quietly,
and it, and it does it reliably,
but nobody thinks about it
until it's gone.
(birds singing over
a gentle breeze)
As a child,
I remember things
like going to the
chicken coop and
collecting the eggs
for breakfast in the morning,
the fruit trees, the cow.
Suddenly one day
it all disappeared.
I was removed from the area
under apartheid.
And what we're facing now is
that I'm also going
to be removed from this area
again as an adult.
It made me go into
a different kind of mode.
And I wasn't going to take it.
This is my madoda.
My madoda.
She's old,
but she's very willing.
First... first swing start.
(music and car
engine starting up)
(car engine humming)
(car door opens and closes)
So what do you see behind me
is a battlefront
of our struggle.
From the sand dune across
till those sand dunes poking
out there in the distance,
all the way across to a line of
blue gums in Strandfontein road.
All of this is a
thousand hectares.
And this is where half
of it, is the Oakland City land
where theyre proposing
to put up a mini city
right here in the middle
of the farming area.
This area is the
highest recharge
area of the Cape Flats Aquifer,
which means that here the water
sinks into the soil quicker,
easier because of
the soil geology.
If this area is paved over
and you put a skin of concrete
and tar, and roofs over
this area, its going
to suffocate this aquifer.
And this aquifer will not be
able to recharge naturally.
So the initial reason why the
developers persuaded the city
to go ahead with
this was that they
said, we'll do low
cost housing for you.
And it was soon realized
that actually the water table is
too high for low cost housing.
The water is actually a
meter below the surface.
So the developers ran with that
and very soon the
development was
turned into a gated
housing proposal.
And so those houses
are not affordable, really.
You've got to throw
down a million rands
worth of cement and steel first
before you build a
house on top of it.
The aquifer is in the
soil of the farmlands.
So if we lose a piece
here, a piece there
it will destroy the aquifer.
(soft rhythmic music)
We're organizing workshops
in the communities
to raise awareness
about the aquifer
and help us protect the aquifer.
Over the years, we have
stopped a number of developers.
So there was development one,
two, three, four, five, six.
We stopped all of them out of
court except this one.
This one we had to go to court,
the Oakland City Development,
we had to go to court.
We took the... we took the
developer to court.
Now remember these developers,
what they want
to do is they want
to build very expensive houses.
(Members of audience
express agreement)
They lie to our people
to say, you know,
don't listen to Nazeer and
don't listen to the campaign
because they don't
want you to have houses,
but the houses they wanted to
build here are for rich people.
(Member of audience)
Its for rich people, yes.
You won't be able to afford
to live in these houses.
So we are resisting their idea
of economic development, right?
(clapping and inaudible speech)
(tap dripping)
(eerie cinematic music)
(water runs out of tap)
(water flowing in stream)
(eerie cinematic music)
Long ago,
the streams of Table Mountain
flowed into open canals
through the city.
(water flowing and
bubbling in stream)
But they ended up
becoming open sewers.
(tense music)
(wet footsteps
inside water tunnel)
To remove the health hazard
the colonial administration
built tunnels for these scores
of streams to flow through.
(water runs through tunnel)
Every day,
an estimated nine
million liters of water
flows through these tunnels,
largely unused,
to the nearby ocean.
(tense music)
And meanwhile, our freshwater
streams are polluted
and disused.
(quirky cinematic music)
While the city has grown,
public spending on water and
sanitation
infrastructure has not.
Our artificial separation from
nature now means
our environment
is carrying the cost.
(eerie cinematic music)
A landscape originally dotted
with lakes, wetlands
and watercourses once fed the
needs of the local population.
(poignant music)
(underwater noise)
Now, many are destroyed
beyond repair
or highly polluted.
(eerie music and
underwater noise)
(boots wade through water)
Residents in Milnerton
are kicking up a stink
because of six long years
of sewage problems.
(eerie, sombre music)
Issues with a nearby
sewage plant pump
failures and a
polluted stormwater
system have all contributed
to the lagoon
being closed for use.
(wind, seagulls cry
and flap their wings)
(a dog barks, many birds sing)
This is one page
where it says we're a
wetland city,
which is wonderful news.
Now if I go three pages on
in the same local magazine
it says rising Milnerton stench
is hitting residents hard.
Now that's really true.
And yet Milnerton Lagoon
is part of a wetland system.
So one has to
question how seriously
the city is taking
that duty of care
when they are allowing
some of their own
infrastructure to
pollute the lagoon,
in fact, be the major sources
of pollution in the lagoon.
And yet it seems to be business
as normal for the city.
And I think that's something
that has to be challenged.
(eerie cinematic music)
(wind and waves)
(rhythms become
louder and stronger)
(many birds singing)
All our investigations point
to the sewage treatment plant
being a major source of the
pollution, as well as
pump stations
that have failed frequently
and led to raw sewage
flowing into the lagoon.
(wind blowing through leaves)
(eerie music)
- Hi Caroline.
- Hi Gray.
Hi there Steve.
We had a big problem
over the weekend again.
The lagoon has been stinking.
I've been in contact
with the Mayco member.
Last weekend, there was sludge
running in the river again.
They say there was a problem at
the plant, so I'm not quite sure
what we're going to
find today, but
I'm very glad we
are testing today
I despair sometimes really.
Stormwater shouldn't
look like that.
(vehicle engine humming)
(door closing)
In 2019,
I laid a formal complaint
with the Western Cape
Department of Environment,
who are known as the
Green Scorpions,
and asked for their assistance
and investigation.
And they did a very
thorough investigation.
I was impressed.
And the result of
that was that the
city was issued
with a directive.
So legally, that was a
very important step.
(rapid water flowing in river)
South Africa has cutting edge
environmental legislation
allowing for legal
action to be taken
against municipalities
that flout the law.
Numerous orders were made by the
provincial environmental agency
to clean up the pollution.
One of them required regular
communication between the city
and the affected communities
regarding progress achieved.
(engine humming)
So we're going there to the
meeting this evening
with the senior
leadership of water
of Water and Sanitation,
because we're going to answer
the difficult questions,
knowing that under
the new mayor's
leadership, is a real priority,
a real drive to clean our water,
because the mayor
has given us the aim
that at the end
of this five years,
we're going to be
swimming in here.
Rethink the stink?
- Hey, yeah.
- Yeah.
So you must get us into
the meeting, right?
Okay. So you want to follow us?
They don't want you in there?
They told us they don't
want us, yeah.
Well, I had somebody
go to Potsdam
and do independent
water testing.
Now, on your official effluent
discharge there,
the count was 750,000 E coli.
Now, the response
from the city is,
You caught us on a
bad day, Caroline.
Well, you know...
(laughing)
you know, perhaps I did.
But what upsets me is that
I have to collect money
from this community to pay for
the cost of that water testing,
when you should
know very well what
is being discharged
into the river
and you have a responsibility
to be transparent
with that to the community.
(clapping)
I want each and every one of
you here this evening
to leave with the understanding
that not at any single point
was the delays at
the Potsdam upgrades
as a result of the city alone.
Yes, obviously,
you know, we have a
role to play in this,
but Im going to ask that Mike,
you go into some of detail
so that we can understand
exactly why we are here
now, ten years later.
I wasn't here at that time,
but that is not the point.
The main point for me
is that it is now happening.
Er, its budgeted for.
It's going to take the next
five years to do.
It's our primary project and
we are totally committed to it.
And I know that's
not satisfactory to you
but I'm going
to have to leave now.
- Thank you,
- Thank you Mike, thanks.
Four, five years is
not good enough.
My basic human
right is to breathe
fresh air, which I cannot do.
I invite you to come
and sleep in our
room and wake up
choking from that smell.
Surely you can,
you can upgrade
Potsdam in two years.
Do you know how
many families are there
with their kids
swimming in that water?
I mean, are you happy with that?
I mean, those, that
needs to be closed,
that whole area
should be closed down
and shut down.
Really, I mean, if
it's that toxic.
I'm acknowledging that over the
years, there have been issues
impacting the river.
There have been issues.
They are still issues
that we are dealing with.
And only once we are able to get
the various phases
of the upgrade
going at Potsdam,
then we are going to
start to make a
meaningful difference.
Let me share an example.
(contemplative music)
There is a profoundly
moral element
to getting the basics right
and to good government.
What we've got to
do is make sure that
our infrastructure
investment and
our basic services can keep up
with the huge
number of people that
want to come and
live in Cape Town.
Good morning Bruce.
How are you?
I want to get something
important done.
That's my sense
of kind of purpose.
In Cape Town,
one of those difficult
things is the state of our
sanitation infrastructure.
Morning Leonard.
- Thank you. Is it big enough?
- 4XL
It's infrastructure
that is reasonably good
but is completely overloaded
and had an investment
in which has not
kept up with the
growth in the
population of our city.
You've got to fix it.
And so we are fixing it.
Very cool.
- Cheers!
- Cheers!
That beautiful clear water
that you saw inside
is going to go
underneath the highway
and feed the Faure
water recycling plant,
which were breaking
ground on next year.
And in the years
ahead will produce
absolutely crystal clear
drinking water from wastewater.
There is an equity and inclusion
and indeed a moral aspect
to functioning basic services.
Thank you.
So I feel that
responsibility deeply, but
I understand that
the way that I have to,
serve out that
responsibility or fulfill it
is to make sure
that the services work
and that requires revenue.
There's no two ways about it.
There's a separate
debate to be had
about whether that
should be funded
by the private sector,
off balance sheet or not,
but for the time being,
the dominant view is that it
should be funded by the state
and, and recovered
from the use of the service.
(inaudible chatter)
We have a city that
is absolutely committed
to a cost recovery program.
We can now build
housing projects.
We can now build social
housing projects around here.
So this is really important.
When you look at South Africa,
Cape Town has the most
expensive properties
and the lowest tax rates.
And so if you were to tax
the highest properties
in Cape Town, 1%, just 1% more,
you would solve any argument
that says we don't have money
for the water infrastructure
or for redistribution.
(gentle breeze blowing)
Faeza, let me show you
where they put the meter.
This is our routine
for the whole day.
The whole day we must open
and close it, so we can check.
And if you turn the
knob and theres
water coming out the tap inside,
then its almost as
if people have money.
Then you call everyone to come
around because they can fill up.
Everyones so excited
because we have water.
Were so lucky, its
like Christmas for us.
So yeah, this is the routine
we follow everyday.
So if we turn the knob, and
theres no water, then too bad.
The problem began, when
they installed the water meter.
Heres where they
install the meter.
They install it outside, because
then they can do what they want.
Sometimes they do
it without you knowing.
You wake up and
find a new meter.
You understand?
I have a five year old child
and children like to play.
Now, he is not
allowed to play in the park
because he is going
to get his clothes dirty.
He has one set of clothes, that
he needs to wear for two days
because he can't wear
different clothes every day
because of the water.
You can't wash them everyday.
So, most of the time,
we have to buy water.
We pay, for 20 liters, 40 Rand.
So, yes, its a huge
struggle for us.
Okay, so the water that you buy,
is that from the municipality?
No, its from the drug lord.
Sometimes you don't know if
you should buy bread or water.
And, as a mother, how
do you look at your children
and explain that
there isn't any water?
You understand?
So you need to make
a plan every day.
Yeah.
(contemplative music)
(quiet street sounds)
Salaam
They want the poor people to pay
for the crisis that we
are not responsible for.
It's an issue of cost recovery,
but they are recovering
in the wrong places.
(suspenseful music)
One of the households
that we visited,
I looked at it and
people were using
two, ten mil to brush
their teeth.
And I talked through,
I said, comrade
two syringes of water, is that
what you use to
brush your teeth?
And she said yes,
She said, I only have
350 liters of water
and so I can't use any more.
It started from 2020.
They told me that they are
coming to close the water.
So I asked the
guy after three days
and then the guy came
and did the bypassing
of the water.
We didn't touch
anything inside the meter,
but he did things inside.
And then he bypassed the water.
Since then,
since then, yes,
it was not right.
Faeza, I know I was
doing something wrong
but what can I do, Faeza?
(car driving by)
(distant traffic)
This is the goal.
We've got toilets there
and theyre always leaking.
And also this is a
formal settlement.
This borehole is always leaking.
If you are passing
there, there's
always water running down there.
Its very seldom
where you can see a
house where there is
no backyard dwellers.
So that we're talking
about a household
from 10 to 30 people
on one property.
Imagine were on a drip system.
Government made an
ad saying water is life.
So how come you're
taking life away from us?
(clapping and cheering)
(rhythmic, reflective music)
(inaudible chatter)
Backyard dwellings
have increased by 256%.
So to allocate per household
makes absolute no sense.
There's not one
household per property.
There are multiple
households per property.
And water then has to get
further and further subdivided.
And yet the city is allocating
this water allowance
to a household
to the property,
regardless of the 256% increase.
(rhythmic, reflective music)
Education. Safety.
Housing. Water.
None of these services
have ever been given willingly.
We only get what
we're organized to take.
(suspenseful music)
(traffic)
Hi!
Hi!
This one is the
most important one.
Ta-da!
We are here because we need to
highlight what's happening.
Because we know
the people whore
going to struggle without water.
And if at any stage I,
we want the mayor
or the mayor's
person to say to us,
who do we contact
if people are without water
during the holidays,
when you are on
holiday, you know
what I'm saying?
I mean,
we can't expect miracles to
happen overnight,
but at some stage
and at some point we
must put pressure.
And this, I think, is
our point of pressure.
They are doing nothing
for our poor people.
And so we are here
today to say no.
We're here to say today
we also want the festive season.
We also want food on our tables.
We also want our
children to have
water in their taps at school.
Water is a human right and
we are all human beings.
And those big companies
like SA Breweries
thats going to
make nice beer for
the holidays...
We cannot bath in beer.
We cannot make food with beer.
Huh! Nestl Chocolate is using
how many liters to
make one chocolate.
But our children are thirsty.
We are here because
we are saying no!
No more!
Enough is enough.
We have no fear!
We have no fear
of what we are doing!
We have no fear
We have no fear
We have no fear
We have no fear
We have no fear,
none at all
We have no fear
We have no fear
Comrades,
the mayor is not coming.
The mayor is
afraid of the people.
The mayor... the mayor has
sent Mr. Nyanga Damane.
He's the community
liaison officer for the mayor.
But we are also
saying to the mayor
that you can only
run away from us
so many times. Yeah?
Power!
To the people!
Power!
To the people!
Down with capitalism, down!
Down!
Forward to the struggle
for water for all! Forward!
Forward!
Forward to the struggle
for water for life! Forward!
Forward!
As I thank everyone
for gathering here
I have received the
Memorandum of Demands,
and I'm assuring everyone that,
erm...
We will respond. Thank you.
Okay.
That is not the end of it.
This is only the beginning.
Yes!
It's only the first time
they see us here.
We will get the
mayor where we want
the mayor to be,
when we are ready.
Yeah, yeah!
(inaudible chatter, wind, birds)
(contemplative music)
(children playing,
splashing water)
Wetlands are an essential
part of the water cycle.
They clean and recharge
groundwater supplies,
reduce flood risk
and provide a critically
important habitat for fish,
birds and plant life.
(contemplative music)
Coming here with
my parents as a child,
and we used to come braai here
and I was surprised
to see this place now.
It looks very desolate now.
And the reason is
because the vleis,
you know, theyre so polluted.
(contemplative music)
(boat moving through water)
(stick jostling trash)
(eerie music)
And part of the pollution
is the mismanagement of the
blue infrastructure in the city,
but also the
infrastructure that the
city put in place
to manage waste.
That's the landfill
site over there.
Right next door to the landfill
site is the water
treatment works.
So a lot of waste
flows into this area.
And that impacts
on the Zeekoevlei,
it impacts on the
aquifer in the soil.
(seagulls, garbage trucks)
(eerie music)
There are
thousands of illegal connections
into the stormwater system.
There are thousands
of informal residents
throwing their night soil
into the stormwater system.
So there is massive abuse of the
of the city's infrastructures.
The city goes and
follows it up and empties it.
But so the point I'm making is
actually that we've
got to find a way,
if we're going to
do anything radical,
we've got to find a way to help
engender behavioral change
in those communities.
What you've got is a
failure of management systems.
And what frustrates me is you
keep blaming the poor people.
You dispute the
fact that there's
any other contributing factor
other than the sewage works.
Its a question of volumes.
That's just not true.
I'm sorry, but...
There have been 150
Olympic swimming pools of shit.
(sombre music)
Much of Cape Town's
poorly treated sewage
is pumped directly into the sea.
And it takes a whopping
55 million liters of fresh water
to get it there every day.
(water flowing from
pipe underwater)
(eerie music)
Hi, Lesley, my friend,
how are you?
We published a
study on Greenpoint.
It was just around
the time that the
city was trying to
renew its permits
to carry on operating
the marine outfalls.
It told him that that is into
a marine reserve,
for instance, at
Camps Bay,
its a marine reserve.
How can you be, in this day
and age, still be
pumping raw sewage
into a marine reserve?
And they rebutted
our paper and they said
that we're basically
talking nonsense.
And they insulted
us as scientists about
we're exaggerating
and all kinds of things,
(waves)
that if you measure
the seawater,
you measure very
low concentrations,
because it's
such a dilute level.
And their philosophy
is dilution of pollution
is the way to
mitigate the problem.
Look, it's diluted by the sea,
but the marine organisms are
bio-accumulating them, and they
are what you're
trying to protect
in that marine reserve.
(whale song and
underwater sounds)
(birds and fish
move in the water)
(underwater
bubbles and gurgling)
(water splashing as birds
push through the surface)
(underwater
bubbles and gurgling)
(high-pitched whale song)
(gurgling, bubbling water)
(whale pushing through
surface of the water)
(contemplative music)
The last resort for Cape Town
is desalination plants.
This is where seawater is
converted into drinking water.
It's a last resort
because it's expensive
and environmentally destructive.
They tried this process in 2018,
but it soon ran
into big problems
because of the high levels
of pollution in the ocean water.
That's the desalination
plant water output.
And you can see
here in November,
none of the desalination
plants worked because
of this huge big plume.
Where's that picture of the
plume now, this plume clogged up
all the desalination plants
and they couldn't work.
(waves and music)
There's been so much destruction
and devastation
of our environment.
Our health is so linked to the
health of the
environment around us.
They are one.
We cannot separate them.
And I think when I started,
I was quite naive.
I have become disillusioned,
but I think sometimes
they rely on activists getting
tired, giving up and
life happening
and moving on
to other things and
nobody holds them accountable.
I'd like to welcome a very
special guest here today,
Mrs Caroline Marx
from the Milnerton
Residents and
Ratepayers Association,
who is an example to every
Capetonian of the critical role
active community
organizations play.
(clapping)
She almost single-handedly drove
the issue of the deterioration
of the Milnerton
Lagoon and in the
process, and I don't
think she knows this,
she served as one of the
early inspirations to me
that convinced me
to run for this office.
Just totally unexpected.
And I was really touched.
And then the following year,
I and some other
water activists,
together with local academics,
were invited to join a wetlands
and mayoral advisory committee
so that we could have input.
The next item
on the agenda is
item number eight.
It also gave me
access to information
that Id never previously had.
So one of the things
I've been pushing for
for many years, was
that the water results
were released publicly
so anybody could go and
have a look and check
what their river looked like and
check how safe their beach was.
Are there any further questions?
Caroline?
Thank you for the presentation.
I just would like
to know the lag
time between the
sample being taken
and the results being received.
Because if it's
sitting at about two weeks,
it means you're closing it
based on old info.
And Geordin promised
me that would happen.
And eventually those results
were made public.
(contemplative, sad music)
For ten years they haven't been
reporting on the
quality of the water
and now that they are reporting,
it's ridiculous the way
water is being polluted.
(contemplative, sad music)
At any given time, you'll get a
message on your WhatsApp
or leaflet saying boil
your water
before you use it, which means
the quality isn't good enough.
We just drink it
most of the time.
You know? I know of many
working class people who
just drink it because
they can't afford it, and for
those of us who can afford it,
we need to buy
extra electricity or extra gas.
And so even that, not included
as a cost by the city,
you know? But it is a cost
for poor people.
Water that does
not generate revenue
or profits is
increasingly under threat
by those who seek to
cut their operational costs
by using our water
sources as a dumping ground.
Mobilized communities
are quickly waking to the notion
that we cannot
separate our health
from our natural environment,
that we are part
of nature.
(gentle reflective music)
Create awareness about the PHA
and the aquifer with the wider,
um, people, communities...
across the city.
So I'm hoping that through your
work, we can kind of find a way
to create a billboard that says,
you know what the area is about.
Yeah, and I'm also
interested in how
the city will read
the billboards.
Yes.
(laughing)
Im beyond worrying about how
the city will view me any more.
They just make me completely...
They make me very angry.
So I don't care
much about what the
city says,
but I think you're right.
In the end, they're going to
determine how the land
is used, right?
Um, well, not really,
its going to determine... er...
How the land is used is going to
determine how effective we are
in mobilising people.
(Islamic call to prayer)
(wind)
(reflective music)
Yeah.
(cars driving past)
(birds communicating
with each other)
Were standing here now
in the middle of winter
and the area is flooded.
It's magically transformed
into a seasonal wetland
with some 98 bird species
that depend on this habitat
for breeding and
migratory birds.
(birds singing)
And its at this site
that Consol wants to
mine silica sand
by dredging all of the soil
out of this area
and really destroying this
whole ecosystem here.
Plans to mine the area have been
set back due to
pollution concerns
and the refusal of the
Department of Water
to grant the
mine a water license.
But the city is also
eyeing this massive
catchment of underground water
for its own purposes.
We are increasingly
starting to access
our underground
aquifers for fresh water.
That is our very first new water
project that is already online,
where we're taking
about 100 megaliters
a day, from the aquifers.
And it's very important
that we do that
in a sustainable way
so as not to deplete
those aquifers or expose them
to salt water ingress
over time.
The scheme
consists of abstraction and
managed aquifer recharge
abstraction shown
by the green and
managed aquifer
recharge by the red.
The managed aquifer
recharge scheme is
seen by the city
not only as a means
to augment its own
dwindling supply
of revenue,
generating fresh water,
but also as a means to clean
up the pollution of the aquifer
created by sand mining
and other economic activity.
This includes the wastewater
treatment and landfill
sites that all border
the Philippi area,
So you can pave over
the natural recharge zone
because we're
going to recharge it
with managed aquifer recharge.
You can take the
dunes away, which
used to act as
sponges and hold water
until the aquifer
could absorb it.
Those dunes are gone now.
Now we just going to recharge it
with managed aquifer recharge.
So now there's carte blanche
to do whatever the hell
you want in the PHA
because we've got managed
aquifer recharge.
So along come the
sand mines and they say
no, it's not going
to affect the water
because we'll just clean the
saline intrusion away
by using the managed
aquifer recharge scheme.
Nazeer and Susan sit
on the aquifer recharge
monitoring committee
as local stakeholders
with a vested interest
in ensuring its health.
In 2009, the City of Cape Town
said the PHA is irreplaceable.
It's irreplaceable.
In other words,
it cant be mitigated.
It can't be engineered.
The PHA is actually
the only natural
recharge area of the aquifer.
Evidence from elsewhere
in the world tells us
this part of our
ecology is fragile,
and precaution is
an important principle.
It's born from an insistence
that nature's ecosystem must
be protected from further harm
if we are to have any chance
of surviving climate change.
When we think about
our colonial history,
we think about the dispossession
of people's livelihoods.
But very few of us think about
the dispossession of knowledge.
What colonialism and apartheid
did was create
this great tearing
from people, from the soil
and from nature.
The problem in
our environment and
climate change
and all the problems
with our soil and our water
and all of that, is a result
of this industrial plantation
farming, extractive
farming that has
happened over the
last 300/400 years.
And I didn't want to be like
that kind of farmer.
(rhythmic, contemplative music)
And that led me to the
watermans type of farming
in the tradition of the Khoi
watermans of this area
who were really in tune
with the environment
in the way that they farmed.
And so what we now know
as, regenerative agriculture,
biodynamic agriculture,
permaculture,
those were deeply embedded in
local and indigenous
farming cultures.
Thats where this comes from.
And that was considered
to be backward and primitive.
Now, its the way to get us out
of the climate crisis.
(rhythmic uplifting music)
I'm a small scale farm
and I'm an organic farmer,
and one
of my biggest inputs is compost.
We can't make enough
compost on the farm.
First of all,
to to build healthy
soil because we
don't use chemicals.
And at the same time, we
have a city who has vast amounts
of, of organic waste
that can be composted.
We can divert this waste
and use it as a resource.
Local governments worldwide
understand landfills create
a highly toxic environment
for our air, land and water.
Some are seeking solutions
by helping farmers
repair the soil,
supporting local
food production.
Organic waste previously
dumped at landfills
is now being used to
make compost at scale.
Now imagine if
you can get the food
waste from the city's landfill,
turn it into compost
and give it free to farmers.
You'd be able to spread
the agro-ecological farming
across the full 3000
hectares of the farmlands,
and then you'd have a city which
is providing organic produce
to the people who need it most,
to the people who've
got diabetes, to
the people who've
got hypertension,
and to the people who haven't
been able to afford vegetables.
Responsible farmers
are moving away
from agrochemicals and using
compost as their
main fertilizer.
Because compost
builds healthy soil,
which allows more
nutrients and water
to be held in the soil,
but also then uses
less water to irrigate the crops
(inaudible chatter)
Local Philippi Farmers want the
city to change their mindset.
From seeing this as a business
opportunity to one
where it becomes
a provision of service
to them and nature.
(inaudible chatter, waves, wind)
The smell is just horrible
and I am so fed up
because when it's like this, the
only thing you can do is close
every single room, window
in your house, all the doors.
Which is not so bad in winter,
but it's really hot in summer.
And then I've also got this
air purifier, which
improves the smell.
But of course it doesn't work
when we don't have electricity.
Repeatedly I've
raised the question
of these toxic gases,
particularly
the hydrogen sulfide,
and my meter
that I used to
have in the garden
showed levels that were higher
than are safe in industry.
The city did install air quality
monitoring equipment, but
it was stolen within a month.
So now fortunately for me,
I found
somebody who's
prepared to loan me
this meter,
which will give me hydrogen
sulfide readings
every three minutes.
Must be really high
hydrogen sulfide levels,
which are definitely
over the WHO
nuisance levels
and I think, affecting people's
health quite seriously.
I think the mayor thought if he
came in with good
management skills,
it would be relatively
easily resolved.
I think it has been a
huge learning curve.
I'm sure he is as frustrated
as I am about the slow progress.
Ms. Marx.
My first one is just a comment.
It's not just a foul odour.
That odour contains a noxious
gas, hydrogen sulfide.
It's a very real health risk,
with many people reporting
adverse side effects.
With regard to the
illicit discharges
into stormwater in Joe Slovo,
there was a survey done
in Joe Slovo recently,
and they found that
37% of households
still had sewage
connected to stormwater.
And then the third that I'm
actually astounded to note
that the city wishes to
push out the completion dates
for Potsdam for
another two years.
So, from a community
point of view,
it causes us to lose complete
faith in what is promised
to us. Thank you.
For us, a common complaint
that Ms. Marx has repeated
is documentation
proving that we have reported
spills and discharges.
So if we can just forward
all of the letters or some,
record of receipts that we
have reported these things.
Okay, we can forward
that? Good.
Er...
A fascinating question.
The city must bear
some responsibility
for why we are where we are.
We have not
invested adequately in,
bulk wastewater treatment
capacity at Potsdam on time.
The construction
sector and engineering
sector must bear
some responsibility
to sub... for subjecting
every single tender
to the most relentless appeals
and challenges.
All squabbling for,
for the money that
the city is prepared to spend,
but only having the effect of
delaying these
projects for years.
Alright, er, water testing,
reported discharges,
two year extension.
Joe Slovo enforcement of sewer,
illegal sewer connections.
Can we just make a specific
commitment around
enforcement action?
Mayor, if we see any illegal,
you know, connection,
we immediately report to
a sort of a depot to disconnect.
Okay. So, if at our next
quarterly meeting,
you could give us some feedback
on that enforcement action.
Thank you.
Alright, I think that's all six.
Caroline, let's go on to the...
Sorry, its just the
hydrogen sulfide, I believe.
If you could just...
It was more of a comment,
yeah...
I just want to emphasize
the importance. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
(gentle rhythmic music)
The city of Cape Town
is continuing to
plow billions of
rand into
infrastructure upgrades.
The latest, an upgrade to the
Potsdam Wastewater
Treatment Works.
The wastewater that goes through
the treatment process benefits
from this ultra technology,
if you will,
so that when the
wastewater effluent,
the treated effluent,
makes its way back into
the environment,
we know that we're discharging
high quality treated effluent.
(gentle music, wind)
(bubbling effluent)
(birds squawking)
Potsdam is not going to be
finished for three years,
but you're starting to
see the projects kick in.
That's already a
huge improvement and
a burden being
lifted off the lagoon.
It no longer has to try and
absorb all that pollution.
During the winter,
we had really heavy rains
which flooded the lagoon and
washed out a lot
of the pollution.
The water became clean.
The smell was gone, the fish
returned, the birds returned.
I even had seals swimming
outside my house every day.
It was wonderful.
(sombre music)
(bird calling out)
(effluent gushing into river)
(horn-like drone sound)
Two months ago,
there was a catastrophic
sewage line collapse.
The pumps at a major pump
station were damaged,
and the city has been struggling
to repair them for two months,
which has meant enormous raw
sewage spills
into the lagoon again.
The water has turned murky.
The smell has returned.
We see the fish have
started to disappear.
The birds are fleeing again and
it has been quite devastating.
(sombre, horn-like drone sounds)
(effluent bubbling)
That particular wastewater
treatment plant
was held back by ten years
because people
were fighting about
the tender process,
because obviously
when you outsource your stuff,
there's an opportunity
to make money, you know?
I personally think that things
that are for the public good
should be run by
the municipality
with a crew of people
that know what they're doing and
that take pride in their work,
not who try to extract
the maximum profit out of it.
(inaudible chatter)
This has been a
ten year journey.
I became an activist
entirely by accident.
I have learned so much.
I have done things
I never thought I would do,
but I had always
relied on the authorities
to sort things out
and had confidence
in them that they would do it.
And in our case,
they have failed completely
time and time again.
The need to upgrade Potsdam
was identified in 2011.
If I don't service my car for 12
years, I can expect problems.
Now, it seems that
the city is presenting
itself here as the
innocent victim.
It's been a real learning curve
for me to learn to
stand my ground.
You promised to fix it years ago
and it's still not fixed.
That was a huge challenge for me
personally,
and especially to do it
publicly.
I'm quite a reserved person.
I found that quite difficult.
I think it's clear contravention
of the directive.
It's a clear contravention and
knowing contravention
of the law.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
(clapping)
(reflective music)
(wind blowing through trees)
(footsteps and chatter)
The city is not
inevitably inept,
but what the city does,
and this is disaster capitalism
waiting in the wings,
they can't wait to say,
'Oh, we can't do it.
It's too difficult.
Clearly we can't.
We need the consultants and
the corporates to take over.'
So, from the person who comes
to install that meter,
it's all private companies
that are taking tenders
and they are getting commission
for every meter
they install, and they don't
care whether you want it or not.
They need their commission
so they will install
that meter on your property.
There's a real crisis out there,
but it's up to us to
take that issue on.
(clapping)
Almost 80% of all water services
are currently run by the state.
But in the next ten years, this
is going to be reduced to 35%.
So you see an
opportunity, right?
Because there's
money to be made.
And when a company runs it,
they run it to make money.
Its a business model.
They need to make money.
So they will have to
charge people more.
Can I just give you a few
country examples here.
Of course, starting in Germany,
because we are
today in Berlin...
Across the Global North, these
corporates have their eyes
on the Global South because
there is money to be made.
And so the next frontier,
as it were, with the same kind
of unfolding of capitalist
and colonial expansion,
are water markets
in the Global South.
That's the new blue gold.
Africa's fast shrinking urban
water supplies have started
a wave of privatizations
and public private partnerships.
Leading government agencies
like the United Nations
have been convinced
that governments
simply do not have
the money to invest
and need the private
sector to step in.
(inaudible chatter)
You now have
the financialization of water
and what they
call water futures,
so you can buy future water
on the stock exchange.
(street sounds,
traffic, footsteps)
Water is the new
blue gold for business,
because business is always
running around the world
to see what they can commodify.
What can they make,
to sell for a profit.
So the water is also now
on the stock exchange.
They can now buy as much water
as they want to buy and say
I want that water in 2030,
but I'm buying it now.
Trillions and trillions of
liters of water.
I want that water in 2030.
Climate change is real.
We are going to face droughts.
So, say that drought
comes in 2030,
that bro has got so much water,
he can sell it to us
for whatever price
he wants to.
So he's going to
sell it to municipalities
for whatever price he wants to.
And therefore,
we have to pay for it.
(water hitting rocks)
(contemplative music)
Good government
underpins economic growth.
Economic growth
underpins investment
and investment and economic
growth both lift
people out of poverty over time.
We also know that
a growing economy
requires constant infrastructure
investment that keeps pace with
our fast growing
city population.
Successful cities are
those who are always
building and investing
in new infrastructure.
When you stop building,
you stop growing.
(music and
construction activity)
Growth, as it's
commonly understood,
only really ever
benefits the rich.
It's become the altar
we must all now bow before,
and is part of a politics
that so often displays
a contempt for the poor.
(wind,
construction vehicles and music)
The current growth and
development model, which
will supposedly trickle down
to have money for what he calls
the poor, isn't working.
It's the cause of the problem.
It's the cause of why
we have the drought.
It's the cause of why
we have climate change.
It's a system
based on extraction.
(ocean, wind and passing ships)
(reflective music)
(gardening sheers
being used for pruning)
Urbanization that has happened
since the collapse of apartheid
is another form of apartheid.
It's the continual,
tearing of people,
from the land.
Now the land is
seen as... as nothing,
as just... just, you know,
a piece of a commodity.
For over ten years,
the Philippi Horticultural Area
Food and Farming Campaign has
been advocating
for the protection
of the area and eventually
saw victory
when Judge Kate Savage
ruled in their favor.
(faint victory song
of activists)
The aquifer in this area
is very, very important.
It must be protected.
And this is the reason why the
judge suspended the approvals
for this development.
If the developer decides
to fight it even further,
we're going to skip the Supreme
Court and we want to go straight
to the Constitutional Court,
because our biggest argument
here is food security.
And so it becomes
a human rights issue.
So we'll take it
to the Constitutional Court.
Well win eventually.
(sombre music)
(inaudible chatter)
They switched off the
wrong persons water.
Yeah.
And as you can see there,
they still owe my mother.
- Yeah.
- 5,700 rand.
They owe her money and
she now called them
and they said
'No, there's no
mistake at your house.
There's no water
cut off at your house.'
Here, theres a small trickle of
water that comes out of the tap.
By the end of the month,
its cut off altogether.
If youre already struggling
with the 350 liters
how bad will it be when the
waters dripping out of the tap?
How do you flush a toilet
with a pipe that drips?
So were here to say, join us.
Were from different areas.
Shes from Hillview,
shes from Beacon Valley,
Mfuleni,
Capricorn,
Nyanga.
There we go.
Unity is power.
You know what that means?
Unity is power.
Every signature is a win.
Every signature is a win.
(clapping and chatter)
Okay, so we are officially done.
Don't worry, don't even worry.
Our concerns don't stop at home.
The concern stretches
up to the end of the community
and even further.
We need that unity.
We need to be able
to struggle in unity
because we will
only win in unity.
So, after ten years
of fighting developers and
sand mining companies,
we have finally
secured 100 hectares
that now forms part
of the land reform
of the Philippi
Horticulture Area.
We want to see
restorative justice
for our people here.
I don't believe
the situation will fundamentally
change until people
start to be fired
for not doing
their jobs properly
or until they are jailed.
It's only then
that the legislation
will be taken seriously.
Because theres paperwork and
thats why its not so heavy.
Take it inside.
I think for us to be able
to take back our water
and fight for our water,
we also still need to protest,
take the people
out on the streets
because government
is not listening to us.
So I think the only
way they listen to us
is when we go
out to the streets.
But this is our protest, us
taking the commons, making sure
that we have our own water,
starting our
own community water
management systems.
This is a form of protest.
This is us saying we can do it
if you're not able to
or you're not willing to,
because I think
that's the issue.
Can we end this human tragedy
that is continuing
to unfold before us?
(reflective music)
Perhaps protecting nature
and the water it provides from
the take,
make and waste approach
is the only way we can defend
the most vulnerable amongst us.
(flowing water)
Surely it's time to work
with the life force
that nature provides
and not against it.
(water trickling down rocks)
Changing direction
means nature's
wealth needs to be
held in common
and shared equally.
Maybe it's time that
we place humanity
and nature at the center
of all our considerations.
(wind, distant waves)
(contemplative music)
(hopeful cinematic music)
(strong gusts of wind blowing
heavy rain clouds)
(wind blows)
(mystical drones
of wind instruments)
(harp notes and crashing waves)
The Cape Peninsula, Cape Town
a place of natural beauty
and temperate climate.
(waves and music)
(splash)
Here water flows
across the land in
seeming abundance.
(feet kicking underwater)
We love to be near the streams,
rivers, lakes and the oceans.
(underwater sounds and waves)
Its flow calms us.
Reassures us that all is well.
And reminds us
that water is life.
Before the Europeans arrived,
the area of Cape Town
was called Camissa,
meaning sweet waters that flowed
from the mountain streams.
It watered the Dutch fleet
and the growing settlement.
The expanding
desires of the colonists
soon led to the Khoi and San,
the indigenous peoples,
violently losing their land
and the water that
sustained them.
Their food and knowledge system
that viewed water as sacred
was erased.
In their place, enslaved
people were imported
to meet the labour needs
of the new plantations,
and a form of
extraction developed
called racial capitalism.
This colonial past continues
to weigh heavily on the present.
(boat horn and
suspenseful music)
And nowhere is this more evident
than with the
city's water crisis.
(suspenseful atmospheric music)
Day zero will happen
when the dams reach 13.5%.
Forgive our sins.
Bring rain to the land.
Plenty rain.
(crowd praying)
And I pray in the
name of Jesus father.
We can no longer ask people
to stop wasting water.
We now have to force them.
Fearing possible unrest
the military was put on
standby to supervise
the proposed water
distribution points.
Councilor Geordin Hill-Lewis
is duly elected
as the mayor for the
City of Cape Town.
The mayor makes it clear
that in his term of office,
he will seek to solve
the massive water
and sanitation crisis.
My fellow Capetonians, the
purpose we have
chosen to fulfill
is to turn Cape Town
into a beacon of hope
for South Africa
at a time when millions
of our citizens
believe that our country is past
the point of no return,
and where local governments
can do nothing more
than manage decline.
I am not one of those people,
and this will not be
one of those governments
Today, the annual rainfall
continues to be insufficient
and water supplied to
the city's working poor
remains highly restricted.
Is there another way?
And if so, where do we look to
for solutions?
(cinematic music)
(inaudible chatter)
(water being poured into a jug)
(water being poured into kettle)
(inaudible background chatter)
So we have been storing water
as you can see, in different
types of containers and bottles,
five liter bottles.
But as were storing,
we also using it
so that we don't end up
with water that's
standing too long.
But it's more of a
safety precaution
because we've been threatened
by the city of Cape Town
over months, now,
that they're going
to put us on the drip system
because we're using more than
500 liters of water per day.
Now, this is not just for us.
That counts for us,
who lives in the backyard
and I think we are about
12 living here at the moment.
And so we can't
afford to be without water.
(boiling water and steam)
(Narrator) The city's attempt
to avert catastrophe,
day zero
came out of a terrible drought.
In the years that followed,
policies have been introduced to
restrict household consumption
and consolidate
control over water.
(stirring of coffee)
They were telling
the poor to save water,
and they were asked to save
water that they don't have.
We see it happening
in communities
where people are
using too little water.
They are not using
what theyre supposed to.
They don't mentioned
backyarding.
They don't mention leaks.
All of those things clearly are
going to lead to this situation.
And we raised all of that.
And the response that
we got actually was
to say what we need
are responsible citizens.
There's no logic. You know, if
you look at the
actual statistics
of unemployment and
how much people have,
there's no way this can work.
Like there's no
way that you were
not going to get this letter.
(inaudible chatter
and footsteps)
(chatter and music)
In 1994, we had between
12 and 14 million households
that didn't have
access to water.
That's about 40 million people.
And if we jump ahead to 2019,
the state's own research shows
that there were 3.5
million households
that didn't have
access to clean water.
That's about 21
million people today.
Part of the problem
is that we have given
the human right to water
the same standing as the
corporate right to water.
This was the
negotiated settlement
where we kept private property.
Land was not returned.
Water was also not returned.
South Africa is the most unequal
country in the world.
Cape town is its
most racially unequal city.
(music)
(club whacks ball)
600,000 people of color
are on the waiting list
for social housing.
Many live in
informal settlements,
(traffic and drilling)
while real estate housing
developments are booming.
(traffic and drilling)
(heavy breathing)
- Good morning.
- Morning. How are you?
- Good and you?
- Yeah, thank you.
All right. Were off.
We can't just allow
totally unconstrained
water usage
of course.
So there does need to be
a basic allocation
er, that, for the poor.
And my understanding
at the last time
that I checked these
figures was that ours
was the most generous basic
allocation of any
in the country,
of any city in the country.
We give the most generous basic
allocation,
above which people do
need to start paying for the
services that they consume.
The price of water is not
so prohibitively expensive that,
an entire family where
even if most of the
family are unemployed,
that they would not be able
to pay something towards that.
And so I do think that's
an important principle
to establish in South Africa
that you must pay something
for the services
that you use over
and above the
indigency allocation.
(hands typing, car engine)
We have a city
that tells itself that
they are doing the utmost
to give to the poor, and this
is the language that they use.
And the problem with it is that
there's no sense of inequality
that actually links who has
water and who
doesn't have water.
(reflective music)
Day zero exposed
the very deep levels of
inequality in distribution
of the city's water.
Where just 13% of the population
were using 51% of the supply.
The cost recovery approach,
the stated need to
earn revenue from water
meant there was no real
motivation to encourage
wealthy households
to cut back on their use.
(reflective music)
(water pouring)
When it came to saving water,
the onus was on the
city's 2 million poor.
(water pouring)
Just one rand sugar,
and we buy one rand coffee. And
it works nicely for three cups.
(Faeza chuckling)
And the kids are saying now,
they brought me a container and
said I must put
the sugar in there
so that the camera don't
see we have one rand sugar.
And I said, you want us to lie?
Why are we not being...
This is our reality.
This is what we have.
So now, at the moment, as a
household,
it will be me and Ebrahiem.
It will be Ebrahiem's brother.
And then we have Eve.
Then there's, Junaid,
and then there's Zaheer
and theres Qiyaam,
and theres Raees
and theres Raeed, and
then theres Shaneeka,
and then there's Kelly,
and then there's Ishmaeel.
Is that it?
Mogamad Ishmaeel.
Oh, it's Mogamad Ishmaeel,
right.
It's that. Were 12.
So were 12. Yeah.
Yoh! A lot!
Already as a woman
it comes with responsibilities.
You have to do
everything in the house.
And you are
responsible for thinking
about everyone and
everyone's well-being.
And then there's the activism.
There's people in this road at
this moment,
that dont have water.
Thats our struggle.
(chatter of children playing)
(traffic and inaudible chatter)
(dog barking)
There's no
alternative for water.
There's nothing you
can replace water with.
Water is like the air
that we breathe.
If you stop breathing,
you're going to die.
If you stop drinking water,
you will die.
But what's happening to us
is we're dying slowly
because we're not
washing ourselves
like we're supposed to.
Our children are not drinking
enough water like
they're supposed to.
We are not doing
what we're supposed
to do to keep our bodies safe.
No?
So that is why for us, as the
African Water Commons Collective
water is key.
The city of Cape Town has now
changed this policy
last year and said
every household can
only use 500 or less.
If they use more than 500
they punish you.
(cough)
That statement says punish you.
Punish, like we are children.
They will slap our hands
when we dont listen.
That's how they treat us.
So after your second punishment
the city manager,
he has the sole priority,
the sole authority
to put you on prepaid.
Do you know what prepaid means?
When you buy water.
Like electricity boxes.
So ultimately, we are fighting
for people to have water coming
from their taps inside their
homes and enough for them to use
for all their basic needs,
and then
for us to be able
to achieve that
we have to get communities
conscientized.
We are focusing
on the issue of water
and people have
various other issues.
But it's important that we
fight for this now
because people cannot live
without water.
So in our group with the, the,
the ten house group...
So in the afternoon,
it's like they use up to between
150 and 170 liters.
It's basically the
same thing that
they do. Its lunch
they prepare.
They start with the main meal.
It's where they
start. The ladies
start with the main
meal for the night.
During the day
I'm trying to wash
our clothes and I'm cooking.
And water, we drink water.
Because the body needs a drink.
(clapping)
We are all using
water on basic needs.
I didn't see any one of
you list a swimming pool.
(inaudible chatter and laughter)
(friendly chatter)
If we really want
to cut water costs
what is water being used for?
Do we need what's being mined?
Do we need
wine, beer? The export
of our juices?
Or do we first need
to say what is enough?
What is enough for every person
to have enough drinking water?
Enough water to grow food with?
And beyond that, we can
deal with what the luxuries are.
(music and waterfall)
In the sweeping mountain ranges
on the continental
side of the Cape Flats,
the city built large water dams
made up of pristine
mountain streams,
providing millions
with fresh water.
(running water
and uplifting music)
The rainfall
that flows from the Table
Mountain range and percolates
into the ground, feeding the
water table of the Cape Flats
has recently been identified
as a new source of fresh water.
It's part of a huge lake
of underground water
called aquifers.
(water sprinklers and
contemplative music)
Is it safe to come?
Right.
Thats my wifes herb garden.
(papers rustling)
Okay. While doing this
work, I came
across a very
wise soil scientist,
Professor Auerbach
and he looked at me and said,
Nazeer, you know,
you must decide
what you're going to become.
Are you going to be an activist
or you're going to be a farmer?
At that time,
I had no hesitation.
I said, I want to be both.
But now I realize
that I suck at both.
(laughing)
But I'm forced to do both
because in order to farm,
I have to protect the area
in which I want to farm in.
(bird wings flapping,
breeze blowing)
(gentle music)
This is where you are.
Were in the Philippi
Horticultural Area.
It's 3000 hectares in extent.
Think of 3000 rugby
fields or football fields.
(gentle music)
We have an
abundant water supply.
We're literally walking
on water here.
There's a huge dam in the soil.
Now, this makes our
area drought proof.
In 2014, when I met Nazeer,
we'd heard that the urban
edge had been shifted.
It's really
desperately important
that you don't let go of
your drought proof farmland.
And it's one of the last
three green lungs
left in the city of Cape Town.
And so that's exactly what
you need to preserve
in a time of climate change.
(gentle music)
(water sprinklers)
The farmers need the aquifer
to support hundreds
of livelihoods
and thousands of jobs.
Farmers in the Philippi
Horticultural area
in Cape Town are concerned
about the possible loss of
agricultural land
due to developments.
Developers are
speculating in the
area and they're buying up land
and they are trying
to force re-zones.
They've been
campaigning since 2011,
when Western Cape
government approved
a proposal for
this section of land
to be open for
possible development.
(water sprinklers)
(chatter, insects,
distant traffic)
(cutlery, quiet movement)
So Nazeer is somebody
that can transform things
like anything, a patch of land,
and he will make
a beautiful farm
out of it and be so successful
with it as well.
Everything that you see around
here has Nazeers touch to it.
(water sprinklers)
They are challenging
the legality
of the process that was followed
to determine what can be done
with two pieces
of land in the...
that is no longer in the PHA.
To give you an idea...
To give you an idea
this is the bigger PHA area
the two pieces of land
we're talking about
are those two pieces there.
Okay,
so that was the shenanigans
at the steps of the court.
(chatter from video
playing on laptop)
So at one point, one court case,
Nazeer had to make the decision
that he was going
to use this house.
And if we lost the case,
we would lose the house, because
I don't have to pay for expenses
or how it worked, or
what it was.
But, um, yeah. And um,
it was just one of those things
that we had to face.
But I'm very proud to say that
this was our founding affidavit.
341 pages.
Imagine Nazeer
sitting in the police
station signing
every single page.
The farmland is worth much more
to the city as urban land.
So that land would be
worth a friendly bank
who's going to
donate to the party,
having 40,000 more mortgages
to be able to offer.
And then the city is also going
to get rates and taxes
from every single one of those
properties, even though the area
has been producing food
for the last 150 years.
The trouble is that it
does it quietly,
and it, and it does it reliably,
but nobody thinks about it
until it's gone.
(birds singing over
a gentle breeze)
As a child,
I remember things
like going to the
chicken coop and
collecting the eggs
for breakfast in the morning,
the fruit trees, the cow.
Suddenly one day
it all disappeared.
I was removed from the area
under apartheid.
And what we're facing now is
that I'm also going
to be removed from this area
again as an adult.
It made me go into
a different kind of mode.
And I wasn't going to take it.
This is my madoda.
My madoda.
She's old,
but she's very willing.
First... first swing start.
(music and car
engine starting up)
(car engine humming)
(car door opens and closes)
So what do you see behind me
is a battlefront
of our struggle.
From the sand dune across
till those sand dunes poking
out there in the distance,
all the way across to a line of
blue gums in Strandfontein road.
All of this is a
thousand hectares.
And this is where half
of it, is the Oakland City land
where theyre proposing
to put up a mini city
right here in the middle
of the farming area.
This area is the
highest recharge
area of the Cape Flats Aquifer,
which means that here the water
sinks into the soil quicker,
easier because of
the soil geology.
If this area is paved over
and you put a skin of concrete
and tar, and roofs over
this area, its going
to suffocate this aquifer.
And this aquifer will not be
able to recharge naturally.
So the initial reason why the
developers persuaded the city
to go ahead with
this was that they
said, we'll do low
cost housing for you.
And it was soon realized
that actually the water table is
too high for low cost housing.
The water is actually a
meter below the surface.
So the developers ran with that
and very soon the
development was
turned into a gated
housing proposal.
And so those houses
are not affordable, really.
You've got to throw
down a million rands
worth of cement and steel first
before you build a
house on top of it.
The aquifer is in the
soil of the farmlands.
So if we lose a piece
here, a piece there
it will destroy the aquifer.
(soft rhythmic music)
We're organizing workshops
in the communities
to raise awareness
about the aquifer
and help us protect the aquifer.
Over the years, we have
stopped a number of developers.
So there was development one,
two, three, four, five, six.
We stopped all of them out of
court except this one.
This one we had to go to court,
the Oakland City Development,
we had to go to court.
We took the... we took the
developer to court.
Now remember these developers,
what they want
to do is they want
to build very expensive houses.
(Members of audience
express agreement)
They lie to our people
to say, you know,
don't listen to Nazeer and
don't listen to the campaign
because they don't
want you to have houses,
but the houses they wanted to
build here are for rich people.
(Member of audience)
Its for rich people, yes.
You won't be able to afford
to live in these houses.
So we are resisting their idea
of economic development, right?
(clapping and inaudible speech)
(tap dripping)
(eerie cinematic music)
(water runs out of tap)
(water flowing in stream)
(eerie cinematic music)
Long ago,
the streams of Table Mountain
flowed into open canals
through the city.
(water flowing and
bubbling in stream)
But they ended up
becoming open sewers.
(tense music)
(wet footsteps
inside water tunnel)
To remove the health hazard
the colonial administration
built tunnels for these scores
of streams to flow through.
(water runs through tunnel)
Every day,
an estimated nine
million liters of water
flows through these tunnels,
largely unused,
to the nearby ocean.
(tense music)
And meanwhile, our freshwater
streams are polluted
and disused.
(quirky cinematic music)
While the city has grown,
public spending on water and
sanitation
infrastructure has not.
Our artificial separation from
nature now means
our environment
is carrying the cost.
(eerie cinematic music)
A landscape originally dotted
with lakes, wetlands
and watercourses once fed the
needs of the local population.
(poignant music)
(underwater noise)
Now, many are destroyed
beyond repair
or highly polluted.
(eerie music and
underwater noise)
(boots wade through water)
Residents in Milnerton
are kicking up a stink
because of six long years
of sewage problems.
(eerie, sombre music)
Issues with a nearby
sewage plant pump
failures and a
polluted stormwater
system have all contributed
to the lagoon
being closed for use.
(wind, seagulls cry
and flap their wings)
(a dog barks, many birds sing)
This is one page
where it says we're a
wetland city,
which is wonderful news.
Now if I go three pages on
in the same local magazine
it says rising Milnerton stench
is hitting residents hard.
Now that's really true.
And yet Milnerton Lagoon
is part of a wetland system.
So one has to
question how seriously
the city is taking
that duty of care
when they are allowing
some of their own
infrastructure to
pollute the lagoon,
in fact, be the major sources
of pollution in the lagoon.
And yet it seems to be business
as normal for the city.
And I think that's something
that has to be challenged.
(eerie cinematic music)
(wind and waves)
(rhythms become
louder and stronger)
(many birds singing)
All our investigations point
to the sewage treatment plant
being a major source of the
pollution, as well as
pump stations
that have failed frequently
and led to raw sewage
flowing into the lagoon.
(wind blowing through leaves)
(eerie music)
- Hi Caroline.
- Hi Gray.
Hi there Steve.
We had a big problem
over the weekend again.
The lagoon has been stinking.
I've been in contact
with the Mayco member.
Last weekend, there was sludge
running in the river again.
They say there was a problem at
the plant, so I'm not quite sure
what we're going to
find today, but
I'm very glad we
are testing today
I despair sometimes really.
Stormwater shouldn't
look like that.
(vehicle engine humming)
(door closing)
In 2019,
I laid a formal complaint
with the Western Cape
Department of Environment,
who are known as the
Green Scorpions,
and asked for their assistance
and investigation.
And they did a very
thorough investigation.
I was impressed.
And the result of
that was that the
city was issued
with a directive.
So legally, that was a
very important step.
(rapid water flowing in river)
South Africa has cutting edge
environmental legislation
allowing for legal
action to be taken
against municipalities
that flout the law.
Numerous orders were made by the
provincial environmental agency
to clean up the pollution.
One of them required regular
communication between the city
and the affected communities
regarding progress achieved.
(engine humming)
So we're going there to the
meeting this evening
with the senior
leadership of water
of Water and Sanitation,
because we're going to answer
the difficult questions,
knowing that under
the new mayor's
leadership, is a real priority,
a real drive to clean our water,
because the mayor
has given us the aim
that at the end
of this five years,
we're going to be
swimming in here.
Rethink the stink?
- Hey, yeah.
- Yeah.
So you must get us into
the meeting, right?
Okay. So you want to follow us?
They don't want you in there?
They told us they don't
want us, yeah.
Well, I had somebody
go to Potsdam
and do independent
water testing.
Now, on your official effluent
discharge there,
the count was 750,000 E coli.
Now, the response
from the city is,
You caught us on a
bad day, Caroline.
Well, you know...
(laughing)
you know, perhaps I did.
But what upsets me is that
I have to collect money
from this community to pay for
the cost of that water testing,
when you should
know very well what
is being discharged
into the river
and you have a responsibility
to be transparent
with that to the community.
(clapping)
I want each and every one of
you here this evening
to leave with the understanding
that not at any single point
was the delays at
the Potsdam upgrades
as a result of the city alone.
Yes, obviously,
you know, we have a
role to play in this,
but Im going to ask that Mike,
you go into some of detail
so that we can understand
exactly why we are here
now, ten years later.
I wasn't here at that time,
but that is not the point.
The main point for me
is that it is now happening.
Er, its budgeted for.
It's going to take the next
five years to do.
It's our primary project and
we are totally committed to it.
And I know that's
not satisfactory to you
but I'm going
to have to leave now.
- Thank you,
- Thank you Mike, thanks.
Four, five years is
not good enough.
My basic human
right is to breathe
fresh air, which I cannot do.
I invite you to come
and sleep in our
room and wake up
choking from that smell.
Surely you can,
you can upgrade
Potsdam in two years.
Do you know how
many families are there
with their kids
swimming in that water?
I mean, are you happy with that?
I mean, those, that
needs to be closed,
that whole area
should be closed down
and shut down.
Really, I mean, if
it's that toxic.
I'm acknowledging that over the
years, there have been issues
impacting the river.
There have been issues.
They are still issues
that we are dealing with.
And only once we are able to get
the various phases
of the upgrade
going at Potsdam,
then we are going to
start to make a
meaningful difference.
Let me share an example.
(contemplative music)
There is a profoundly
moral element
to getting the basics right
and to good government.
What we've got to
do is make sure that
our infrastructure
investment and
our basic services can keep up
with the huge
number of people that
want to come and
live in Cape Town.
Good morning Bruce.
How are you?
I want to get something
important done.
That's my sense
of kind of purpose.
In Cape Town,
one of those difficult
things is the state of our
sanitation infrastructure.
Morning Leonard.
- Thank you. Is it big enough?
- 4XL
It's infrastructure
that is reasonably good
but is completely overloaded
and had an investment
in which has not
kept up with the
growth in the
population of our city.
You've got to fix it.
And so we are fixing it.
Very cool.
- Cheers!
- Cheers!
That beautiful clear water
that you saw inside
is going to go
underneath the highway
and feed the Faure
water recycling plant,
which were breaking
ground on next year.
And in the years
ahead will produce
absolutely crystal clear
drinking water from wastewater.
There is an equity and inclusion
and indeed a moral aspect
to functioning basic services.
Thank you.
So I feel that
responsibility deeply, but
I understand that
the way that I have to,
serve out that
responsibility or fulfill it
is to make sure
that the services work
and that requires revenue.
There's no two ways about it.
There's a separate
debate to be had
about whether that
should be funded
by the private sector,
off balance sheet or not,
but for the time being,
the dominant view is that it
should be funded by the state
and, and recovered
from the use of the service.
(inaudible chatter)
We have a city that
is absolutely committed
to a cost recovery program.
We can now build
housing projects.
We can now build social
housing projects around here.
So this is really important.
When you look at South Africa,
Cape Town has the most
expensive properties
and the lowest tax rates.
And so if you were to tax
the highest properties
in Cape Town, 1%, just 1% more,
you would solve any argument
that says we don't have money
for the water infrastructure
or for redistribution.
(gentle breeze blowing)
Faeza, let me show you
where they put the meter.
This is our routine
for the whole day.
The whole day we must open
and close it, so we can check.
And if you turn the
knob and theres
water coming out the tap inside,
then its almost as
if people have money.
Then you call everyone to come
around because they can fill up.
Everyones so excited
because we have water.
Were so lucky, its
like Christmas for us.
So yeah, this is the routine
we follow everyday.
So if we turn the knob, and
theres no water, then too bad.
The problem began, when
they installed the water meter.
Heres where they
install the meter.
They install it outside, because
then they can do what they want.
Sometimes they do
it without you knowing.
You wake up and
find a new meter.
You understand?
I have a five year old child
and children like to play.
Now, he is not
allowed to play in the park
because he is going
to get his clothes dirty.
He has one set of clothes, that
he needs to wear for two days
because he can't wear
different clothes every day
because of the water.
You can't wash them everyday.
So, most of the time,
we have to buy water.
We pay, for 20 liters, 40 Rand.
So, yes, its a huge
struggle for us.
Okay, so the water that you buy,
is that from the municipality?
No, its from the drug lord.
Sometimes you don't know if
you should buy bread or water.
And, as a mother, how
do you look at your children
and explain that
there isn't any water?
You understand?
So you need to make
a plan every day.
Yeah.
(contemplative music)
(quiet street sounds)
Salaam
They want the poor people to pay
for the crisis that we
are not responsible for.
It's an issue of cost recovery,
but they are recovering
in the wrong places.
(suspenseful music)
One of the households
that we visited,
I looked at it and
people were using
two, ten mil to brush
their teeth.
And I talked through,
I said, comrade
two syringes of water, is that
what you use to
brush your teeth?
And she said yes,
She said, I only have
350 liters of water
and so I can't use any more.
It started from 2020.
They told me that they are
coming to close the water.
So I asked the
guy after three days
and then the guy came
and did the bypassing
of the water.
We didn't touch
anything inside the meter,
but he did things inside.
And then he bypassed the water.
Since then,
since then, yes,
it was not right.
Faeza, I know I was
doing something wrong
but what can I do, Faeza?
(car driving by)
(distant traffic)
This is the goal.
We've got toilets there
and theyre always leaking.
And also this is a
formal settlement.
This borehole is always leaking.
If you are passing
there, there's
always water running down there.
Its very seldom
where you can see a
house where there is
no backyard dwellers.
So that we're talking
about a household
from 10 to 30 people
on one property.
Imagine were on a drip system.
Government made an
ad saying water is life.
So how come you're
taking life away from us?
(clapping and cheering)
(rhythmic, reflective music)
(inaudible chatter)
Backyard dwellings
have increased by 256%.
So to allocate per household
makes absolute no sense.
There's not one
household per property.
There are multiple
households per property.
And water then has to get
further and further subdivided.
And yet the city is allocating
this water allowance
to a household
to the property,
regardless of the 256% increase.
(rhythmic, reflective music)
Education. Safety.
Housing. Water.
None of these services
have ever been given willingly.
We only get what
we're organized to take.
(suspenseful music)
(traffic)
Hi!
Hi!
This one is the
most important one.
Ta-da!
We are here because we need to
highlight what's happening.
Because we know
the people whore
going to struggle without water.
And if at any stage I,
we want the mayor
or the mayor's
person to say to us,
who do we contact
if people are without water
during the holidays,
when you are on
holiday, you know
what I'm saying?
I mean,
we can't expect miracles to
happen overnight,
but at some stage
and at some point we
must put pressure.
And this, I think, is
our point of pressure.
They are doing nothing
for our poor people.
And so we are here
today to say no.
We're here to say today
we also want the festive season.
We also want food on our tables.
We also want our
children to have
water in their taps at school.
Water is a human right and
we are all human beings.
And those big companies
like SA Breweries
thats going to
make nice beer for
the holidays...
We cannot bath in beer.
We cannot make food with beer.
Huh! Nestl Chocolate is using
how many liters to
make one chocolate.
But our children are thirsty.
We are here because
we are saying no!
No more!
Enough is enough.
We have no fear!
We have no fear
of what we are doing!
We have no fear
We have no fear
We have no fear
We have no fear
We have no fear,
none at all
We have no fear
We have no fear
Comrades,
the mayor is not coming.
The mayor is
afraid of the people.
The mayor... the mayor has
sent Mr. Nyanga Damane.
He's the community
liaison officer for the mayor.
But we are also
saying to the mayor
that you can only
run away from us
so many times. Yeah?
Power!
To the people!
Power!
To the people!
Down with capitalism, down!
Down!
Forward to the struggle
for water for all! Forward!
Forward!
Forward to the struggle
for water for life! Forward!
Forward!
As I thank everyone
for gathering here
I have received the
Memorandum of Demands,
and I'm assuring everyone that,
erm...
We will respond. Thank you.
Okay.
That is not the end of it.
This is only the beginning.
Yes!
It's only the first time
they see us here.
We will get the
mayor where we want
the mayor to be,
when we are ready.
Yeah, yeah!
(inaudible chatter, wind, birds)
(contemplative music)
(children playing,
splashing water)
Wetlands are an essential
part of the water cycle.
They clean and recharge
groundwater supplies,
reduce flood risk
and provide a critically
important habitat for fish,
birds and plant life.
(contemplative music)
Coming here with
my parents as a child,
and we used to come braai here
and I was surprised
to see this place now.
It looks very desolate now.
And the reason is
because the vleis,
you know, theyre so polluted.
(contemplative music)
(boat moving through water)
(stick jostling trash)
(eerie music)
And part of the pollution
is the mismanagement of the
blue infrastructure in the city,
but also the
infrastructure that the
city put in place
to manage waste.
That's the landfill
site over there.
Right next door to the landfill
site is the water
treatment works.
So a lot of waste
flows into this area.
And that impacts
on the Zeekoevlei,
it impacts on the
aquifer in the soil.
(seagulls, garbage trucks)
(eerie music)
There are
thousands of illegal connections
into the stormwater system.
There are thousands
of informal residents
throwing their night soil
into the stormwater system.
So there is massive abuse of the
of the city's infrastructures.
The city goes and
follows it up and empties it.
But so the point I'm making is
actually that we've
got to find a way,
if we're going to
do anything radical,
we've got to find a way to help
engender behavioral change
in those communities.
What you've got is a
failure of management systems.
And what frustrates me is you
keep blaming the poor people.
You dispute the
fact that there's
any other contributing factor
other than the sewage works.
Its a question of volumes.
That's just not true.
I'm sorry, but...
There have been 150
Olympic swimming pools of shit.
(sombre music)
Much of Cape Town's
poorly treated sewage
is pumped directly into the sea.
And it takes a whopping
55 million liters of fresh water
to get it there every day.
(water flowing from
pipe underwater)
(eerie music)
Hi, Lesley, my friend,
how are you?
We published a
study on Greenpoint.
It was just around
the time that the
city was trying to
renew its permits
to carry on operating
the marine outfalls.
It told him that that is into
a marine reserve,
for instance, at
Camps Bay,
its a marine reserve.
How can you be, in this day
and age, still be
pumping raw sewage
into a marine reserve?
And they rebutted
our paper and they said
that we're basically
talking nonsense.
And they insulted
us as scientists about
we're exaggerating
and all kinds of things,
(waves)
that if you measure
the seawater,
you measure very
low concentrations,
because it's
such a dilute level.
And their philosophy
is dilution of pollution
is the way to
mitigate the problem.
Look, it's diluted by the sea,
but the marine organisms are
bio-accumulating them, and they
are what you're
trying to protect
in that marine reserve.
(whale song and
underwater sounds)
(birds and fish
move in the water)
(underwater
bubbles and gurgling)
(water splashing as birds
push through the surface)
(underwater
bubbles and gurgling)
(high-pitched whale song)
(gurgling, bubbling water)
(whale pushing through
surface of the water)
(contemplative music)
The last resort for Cape Town
is desalination plants.
This is where seawater is
converted into drinking water.
It's a last resort
because it's expensive
and environmentally destructive.
They tried this process in 2018,
but it soon ran
into big problems
because of the high levels
of pollution in the ocean water.
That's the desalination
plant water output.
And you can see
here in November,
none of the desalination
plants worked because
of this huge big plume.
Where's that picture of the
plume now, this plume clogged up
all the desalination plants
and they couldn't work.
(waves and music)
There's been so much destruction
and devastation
of our environment.
Our health is so linked to the
health of the
environment around us.
They are one.
We cannot separate them.
And I think when I started,
I was quite naive.
I have become disillusioned,
but I think sometimes
they rely on activists getting
tired, giving up and
life happening
and moving on
to other things and
nobody holds them accountable.
I'd like to welcome a very
special guest here today,
Mrs Caroline Marx
from the Milnerton
Residents and
Ratepayers Association,
who is an example to every
Capetonian of the critical role
active community
organizations play.
(clapping)
She almost single-handedly drove
the issue of the deterioration
of the Milnerton
Lagoon and in the
process, and I don't
think she knows this,
she served as one of the
early inspirations to me
that convinced me
to run for this office.
Just totally unexpected.
And I was really touched.
And then the following year,
I and some other
water activists,
together with local academics,
were invited to join a wetlands
and mayoral advisory committee
so that we could have input.
The next item
on the agenda is
item number eight.
It also gave me
access to information
that Id never previously had.
So one of the things
I've been pushing for
for many years, was
that the water results
were released publicly
so anybody could go and
have a look and check
what their river looked like and
check how safe their beach was.
Are there any further questions?
Caroline?
Thank you for the presentation.
I just would like
to know the lag
time between the
sample being taken
and the results being received.
Because if it's
sitting at about two weeks,
it means you're closing it
based on old info.
And Geordin promised
me that would happen.
And eventually those results
were made public.
(contemplative, sad music)
For ten years they haven't been
reporting on the
quality of the water
and now that they are reporting,
it's ridiculous the way
water is being polluted.
(contemplative, sad music)
At any given time, you'll get a
message on your WhatsApp
or leaflet saying boil
your water
before you use it, which means
the quality isn't good enough.
We just drink it
most of the time.
You know? I know of many
working class people who
just drink it because
they can't afford it, and for
those of us who can afford it,
we need to buy
extra electricity or extra gas.
And so even that, not included
as a cost by the city,
you know? But it is a cost
for poor people.
Water that does
not generate revenue
or profits is
increasingly under threat
by those who seek to
cut their operational costs
by using our water
sources as a dumping ground.
Mobilized communities
are quickly waking to the notion
that we cannot
separate our health
from our natural environment,
that we are part
of nature.
(gentle reflective music)
Create awareness about the PHA
and the aquifer with the wider,
um, people, communities...
across the city.
So I'm hoping that through your
work, we can kind of find a way
to create a billboard that says,
you know what the area is about.
Yeah, and I'm also
interested in how
the city will read
the billboards.
Yes.
(laughing)
Im beyond worrying about how
the city will view me any more.
They just make me completely...
They make me very angry.
So I don't care
much about what the
city says,
but I think you're right.
In the end, they're going to
determine how the land
is used, right?
Um, well, not really,
its going to determine... er...
How the land is used is going to
determine how effective we are
in mobilising people.
(Islamic call to prayer)
(wind)
(reflective music)
Yeah.
(cars driving past)
(birds communicating
with each other)
Were standing here now
in the middle of winter
and the area is flooded.
It's magically transformed
into a seasonal wetland
with some 98 bird species
that depend on this habitat
for breeding and
migratory birds.
(birds singing)
And its at this site
that Consol wants to
mine silica sand
by dredging all of the soil
out of this area
and really destroying this
whole ecosystem here.
Plans to mine the area have been
set back due to
pollution concerns
and the refusal of the
Department of Water
to grant the
mine a water license.
But the city is also
eyeing this massive
catchment of underground water
for its own purposes.
We are increasingly
starting to access
our underground
aquifers for fresh water.
That is our very first new water
project that is already online,
where we're taking
about 100 megaliters
a day, from the aquifers.
And it's very important
that we do that
in a sustainable way
so as not to deplete
those aquifers or expose them
to salt water ingress
over time.
The scheme
consists of abstraction and
managed aquifer recharge
abstraction shown
by the green and
managed aquifer
recharge by the red.
The managed aquifer
recharge scheme is
seen by the city
not only as a means
to augment its own
dwindling supply
of revenue,
generating fresh water,
but also as a means to clean
up the pollution of the aquifer
created by sand mining
and other economic activity.
This includes the wastewater
treatment and landfill
sites that all border
the Philippi area,
So you can pave over
the natural recharge zone
because we're
going to recharge it
with managed aquifer recharge.
You can take the
dunes away, which
used to act as
sponges and hold water
until the aquifer
could absorb it.
Those dunes are gone now.
Now we just going to recharge it
with managed aquifer recharge.
So now there's carte blanche
to do whatever the hell
you want in the PHA
because we've got managed
aquifer recharge.
So along come the
sand mines and they say
no, it's not going
to affect the water
because we'll just clean the
saline intrusion away
by using the managed
aquifer recharge scheme.
Nazeer and Susan sit
on the aquifer recharge
monitoring committee
as local stakeholders
with a vested interest
in ensuring its health.
In 2009, the City of Cape Town
said the PHA is irreplaceable.
It's irreplaceable.
In other words,
it cant be mitigated.
It can't be engineered.
The PHA is actually
the only natural
recharge area of the aquifer.
Evidence from elsewhere
in the world tells us
this part of our
ecology is fragile,
and precaution is
an important principle.
It's born from an insistence
that nature's ecosystem must
be protected from further harm
if we are to have any chance
of surviving climate change.
When we think about
our colonial history,
we think about the dispossession
of people's livelihoods.
But very few of us think about
the dispossession of knowledge.
What colonialism and apartheid
did was create
this great tearing
from people, from the soil
and from nature.
The problem in
our environment and
climate change
and all the problems
with our soil and our water
and all of that, is a result
of this industrial plantation
farming, extractive
farming that has
happened over the
last 300/400 years.
And I didn't want to be like
that kind of farmer.
(rhythmic, contemplative music)
And that led me to the
watermans type of farming
in the tradition of the Khoi
watermans of this area
who were really in tune
with the environment
in the way that they farmed.
And so what we now know
as, regenerative agriculture,
biodynamic agriculture,
permaculture,
those were deeply embedded in
local and indigenous
farming cultures.
Thats where this comes from.
And that was considered
to be backward and primitive.
Now, its the way to get us out
of the climate crisis.
(rhythmic uplifting music)
I'm a small scale farm
and I'm an organic farmer,
and one
of my biggest inputs is compost.
We can't make enough
compost on the farm.
First of all,
to to build healthy
soil because we
don't use chemicals.
And at the same time, we
have a city who has vast amounts
of, of organic waste
that can be composted.
We can divert this waste
and use it as a resource.
Local governments worldwide
understand landfills create
a highly toxic environment
for our air, land and water.
Some are seeking solutions
by helping farmers
repair the soil,
supporting local
food production.
Organic waste previously
dumped at landfills
is now being used to
make compost at scale.
Now imagine if
you can get the food
waste from the city's landfill,
turn it into compost
and give it free to farmers.
You'd be able to spread
the agro-ecological farming
across the full 3000
hectares of the farmlands,
and then you'd have a city which
is providing organic produce
to the people who need it most,
to the people who've
got diabetes, to
the people who've
got hypertension,
and to the people who haven't
been able to afford vegetables.
Responsible farmers
are moving away
from agrochemicals and using
compost as their
main fertilizer.
Because compost
builds healthy soil,
which allows more
nutrients and water
to be held in the soil,
but also then uses
less water to irrigate the crops
(inaudible chatter)
Local Philippi Farmers want the
city to change their mindset.
From seeing this as a business
opportunity to one
where it becomes
a provision of service
to them and nature.
(inaudible chatter, waves, wind)
The smell is just horrible
and I am so fed up
because when it's like this, the
only thing you can do is close
every single room, window
in your house, all the doors.
Which is not so bad in winter,
but it's really hot in summer.
And then I've also got this
air purifier, which
improves the smell.
But of course it doesn't work
when we don't have electricity.
Repeatedly I've
raised the question
of these toxic gases,
particularly
the hydrogen sulfide,
and my meter
that I used to
have in the garden
showed levels that were higher
than are safe in industry.
The city did install air quality
monitoring equipment, but
it was stolen within a month.
So now fortunately for me,
I found
somebody who's
prepared to loan me
this meter,
which will give me hydrogen
sulfide readings
every three minutes.
Must be really high
hydrogen sulfide levels,
which are definitely
over the WHO
nuisance levels
and I think, affecting people's
health quite seriously.
I think the mayor thought if he
came in with good
management skills,
it would be relatively
easily resolved.
I think it has been a
huge learning curve.
I'm sure he is as frustrated
as I am about the slow progress.
Ms. Marx.
My first one is just a comment.
It's not just a foul odour.
That odour contains a noxious
gas, hydrogen sulfide.
It's a very real health risk,
with many people reporting
adverse side effects.
With regard to the
illicit discharges
into stormwater in Joe Slovo,
there was a survey done
in Joe Slovo recently,
and they found that
37% of households
still had sewage
connected to stormwater.
And then the third that I'm
actually astounded to note
that the city wishes to
push out the completion dates
for Potsdam for
another two years.
So, from a community
point of view,
it causes us to lose complete
faith in what is promised
to us. Thank you.
For us, a common complaint
that Ms. Marx has repeated
is documentation
proving that we have reported
spills and discharges.
So if we can just forward
all of the letters or some,
record of receipts that we
have reported these things.
Okay, we can forward
that? Good.
Er...
A fascinating question.
The city must bear
some responsibility
for why we are where we are.
We have not
invested adequately in,
bulk wastewater treatment
capacity at Potsdam on time.
The construction
sector and engineering
sector must bear
some responsibility
to sub... for subjecting
every single tender
to the most relentless appeals
and challenges.
All squabbling for,
for the money that
the city is prepared to spend,
but only having the effect of
delaying these
projects for years.
Alright, er, water testing,
reported discharges,
two year extension.
Joe Slovo enforcement of sewer,
illegal sewer connections.
Can we just make a specific
commitment around
enforcement action?
Mayor, if we see any illegal,
you know, connection,
we immediately report to
a sort of a depot to disconnect.
Okay. So, if at our next
quarterly meeting,
you could give us some feedback
on that enforcement action.
Thank you.
Alright, I think that's all six.
Caroline, let's go on to the...
Sorry, its just the
hydrogen sulfide, I believe.
If you could just...
It was more of a comment,
yeah...
I just want to emphasize
the importance. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
(gentle rhythmic music)
The city of Cape Town
is continuing to
plow billions of
rand into
infrastructure upgrades.
The latest, an upgrade to the
Potsdam Wastewater
Treatment Works.
The wastewater that goes through
the treatment process benefits
from this ultra technology,
if you will,
so that when the
wastewater effluent,
the treated effluent,
makes its way back into
the environment,
we know that we're discharging
high quality treated effluent.
(gentle music, wind)
(bubbling effluent)
(birds squawking)
Potsdam is not going to be
finished for three years,
but you're starting to
see the projects kick in.
That's already a
huge improvement and
a burden being
lifted off the lagoon.
It no longer has to try and
absorb all that pollution.
During the winter,
we had really heavy rains
which flooded the lagoon and
washed out a lot
of the pollution.
The water became clean.
The smell was gone, the fish
returned, the birds returned.
I even had seals swimming
outside my house every day.
It was wonderful.
(sombre music)
(bird calling out)
(effluent gushing into river)
(horn-like drone sound)
Two months ago,
there was a catastrophic
sewage line collapse.
The pumps at a major pump
station were damaged,
and the city has been struggling
to repair them for two months,
which has meant enormous raw
sewage spills
into the lagoon again.
The water has turned murky.
The smell has returned.
We see the fish have
started to disappear.
The birds are fleeing again and
it has been quite devastating.
(sombre, horn-like drone sounds)
(effluent bubbling)
That particular wastewater
treatment plant
was held back by ten years
because people
were fighting about
the tender process,
because obviously
when you outsource your stuff,
there's an opportunity
to make money, you know?
I personally think that things
that are for the public good
should be run by
the municipality
with a crew of people
that know what they're doing and
that take pride in their work,
not who try to extract
the maximum profit out of it.
(inaudible chatter)
This has been a
ten year journey.
I became an activist
entirely by accident.
I have learned so much.
I have done things
I never thought I would do,
but I had always
relied on the authorities
to sort things out
and had confidence
in them that they would do it.
And in our case,
they have failed completely
time and time again.
The need to upgrade Potsdam
was identified in 2011.
If I don't service my car for 12
years, I can expect problems.
Now, it seems that
the city is presenting
itself here as the
innocent victim.
It's been a real learning curve
for me to learn to
stand my ground.
You promised to fix it years ago
and it's still not fixed.
That was a huge challenge for me
personally,
and especially to do it
publicly.
I'm quite a reserved person.
I found that quite difficult.
I think it's clear contravention
of the directive.
It's a clear contravention and
knowing contravention
of the law.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
(clapping)
(reflective music)
(wind blowing through trees)
(footsteps and chatter)
The city is not
inevitably inept,
but what the city does,
and this is disaster capitalism
waiting in the wings,
they can't wait to say,
'Oh, we can't do it.
It's too difficult.
Clearly we can't.
We need the consultants and
the corporates to take over.'
So, from the person who comes
to install that meter,
it's all private companies
that are taking tenders
and they are getting commission
for every meter
they install, and they don't
care whether you want it or not.
They need their commission
so they will install
that meter on your property.
There's a real crisis out there,
but it's up to us to
take that issue on.
(clapping)
Almost 80% of all water services
are currently run by the state.
But in the next ten years, this
is going to be reduced to 35%.
So you see an
opportunity, right?
Because there's
money to be made.
And when a company runs it,
they run it to make money.
Its a business model.
They need to make money.
So they will have to
charge people more.
Can I just give you a few
country examples here.
Of course, starting in Germany,
because we are
today in Berlin...
Across the Global North, these
corporates have their eyes
on the Global South because
there is money to be made.
And so the next frontier,
as it were, with the same kind
of unfolding of capitalist
and colonial expansion,
are water markets
in the Global South.
That's the new blue gold.
Africa's fast shrinking urban
water supplies have started
a wave of privatizations
and public private partnerships.
Leading government agencies
like the United Nations
have been convinced
that governments
simply do not have
the money to invest
and need the private
sector to step in.
(inaudible chatter)
You now have
the financialization of water
and what they
call water futures,
so you can buy future water
on the stock exchange.
(street sounds,
traffic, footsteps)
Water is the new
blue gold for business,
because business is always
running around the world
to see what they can commodify.
What can they make,
to sell for a profit.
So the water is also now
on the stock exchange.
They can now buy as much water
as they want to buy and say
I want that water in 2030,
but I'm buying it now.
Trillions and trillions of
liters of water.
I want that water in 2030.
Climate change is real.
We are going to face droughts.
So, say that drought
comes in 2030,
that bro has got so much water,
he can sell it to us
for whatever price
he wants to.
So he's going to
sell it to municipalities
for whatever price he wants to.
And therefore,
we have to pay for it.
(water hitting rocks)
(contemplative music)
Good government
underpins economic growth.
Economic growth
underpins investment
and investment and economic
growth both lift
people out of poverty over time.
We also know that
a growing economy
requires constant infrastructure
investment that keeps pace with
our fast growing
city population.
Successful cities are
those who are always
building and investing
in new infrastructure.
When you stop building,
you stop growing.
(music and
construction activity)
Growth, as it's
commonly understood,
only really ever
benefits the rich.
It's become the altar
we must all now bow before,
and is part of a politics
that so often displays
a contempt for the poor.
(wind,
construction vehicles and music)
The current growth and
development model, which
will supposedly trickle down
to have money for what he calls
the poor, isn't working.
It's the cause of the problem.
It's the cause of why
we have the drought.
It's the cause of why
we have climate change.
It's a system
based on extraction.
(ocean, wind and passing ships)
(reflective music)
(gardening sheers
being used for pruning)
Urbanization that has happened
since the collapse of apartheid
is another form of apartheid.
It's the continual,
tearing of people,
from the land.
Now the land is
seen as... as nothing,
as just... just, you know,
a piece of a commodity.
For over ten years,
the Philippi Horticultural Area
Food and Farming Campaign has
been advocating
for the protection
of the area and eventually
saw victory
when Judge Kate Savage
ruled in their favor.
(faint victory song
of activists)
The aquifer in this area
is very, very important.
It must be protected.
And this is the reason why the
judge suspended the approvals
for this development.
If the developer decides
to fight it even further,
we're going to skip the Supreme
Court and we want to go straight
to the Constitutional Court,
because our biggest argument
here is food security.
And so it becomes
a human rights issue.
So we'll take it
to the Constitutional Court.
Well win eventually.
(sombre music)
(inaudible chatter)
They switched off the
wrong persons water.
Yeah.
And as you can see there,
they still owe my mother.
- Yeah.
- 5,700 rand.
They owe her money and
she now called them
and they said
'No, there's no
mistake at your house.
There's no water
cut off at your house.'
Here, theres a small trickle of
water that comes out of the tap.
By the end of the month,
its cut off altogether.
If youre already struggling
with the 350 liters
how bad will it be when the
waters dripping out of the tap?
How do you flush a toilet
with a pipe that drips?
So were here to say, join us.
Were from different areas.
Shes from Hillview,
shes from Beacon Valley,
Mfuleni,
Capricorn,
Nyanga.
There we go.
Unity is power.
You know what that means?
Unity is power.
Every signature is a win.
Every signature is a win.
(clapping and chatter)
Okay, so we are officially done.
Don't worry, don't even worry.
Our concerns don't stop at home.
The concern stretches
up to the end of the community
and even further.
We need that unity.
We need to be able
to struggle in unity
because we will
only win in unity.
So, after ten years
of fighting developers and
sand mining companies,
we have finally
secured 100 hectares
that now forms part
of the land reform
of the Philippi
Horticulture Area.
We want to see
restorative justice
for our people here.
I don't believe
the situation will fundamentally
change until people
start to be fired
for not doing
their jobs properly
or until they are jailed.
It's only then
that the legislation
will be taken seriously.
Because theres paperwork and
thats why its not so heavy.
Take it inside.
I think for us to be able
to take back our water
and fight for our water,
we also still need to protest,
take the people
out on the streets
because government
is not listening to us.
So I think the only
way they listen to us
is when we go
out to the streets.
But this is our protest, us
taking the commons, making sure
that we have our own water,
starting our
own community water
management systems.
This is a form of protest.
This is us saying we can do it
if you're not able to
or you're not willing to,
because I think
that's the issue.
Can we end this human tragedy
that is continuing
to unfold before us?
(reflective music)
Perhaps protecting nature
and the water it provides from
the take,
make and waste approach
is the only way we can defend
the most vulnerable amongst us.
(flowing water)
Surely it's time to work
with the life force
that nature provides
and not against it.
(water trickling down rocks)
Changing direction
means nature's
wealth needs to be
held in common
and shared equally.
Maybe it's time that
we place humanity
and nature at the center
of all our considerations.
(wind, distant waves)
(contemplative music)