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Helen Zille’s Private Water Purifier Costs Drought-Stricken Taxpayers A Whopping R90‚000

By Pieter Howes
Published on: 19:18 PST, Sep 14, 2017

In the midst of a severe drought that has been plaguing Cape Town residents for months – with the metropolitan area even being declared a disaster zone – Western Cape Premier Helen Zille will soon install an R90,000 private water purifier at her government residence using taxpayers’ money.

The expensive water purifying system will make use of a natural stream that runs underground through the Leeuwenhof area of Cape Town where Zille currently resides. Despite vlogger Adam Spires’ recent discovery that roughly 2.8 million liters of water flow underneath the city per day, Zille has allegedly opted to make the purification system available exclusively for the benefit of her family.

Moreover, as the mayor’s office in Cape Town tries to reach a city-wide target of total consumption no more than 500 million liters per day, analysis of Zille’s household consumption indicates that the premier and her family have consumed, on average, vastly more than their permitted share of the scarce natural resource.

On Thursday this week, while answering questions in the province’s legislature, the MEC of public works, Donald Grant, confirmed the plans to provide the highest-ranking Cape official with her own private, seemingly endless, source of water.

“A water purification installation to purify the stream water on the site was installed earlier this month at the cost of R92‚754.”

Mr. Grant added that the City of Cape Town had concluded its viability assessment and as such the proposal for the construction of the plant will go ahead as planned.

Helen Zille poses for a photograph with international delegates in front of her official residence in Leeuwenhof, Cape Town. [Image by Joerg Koch/AP Images]

While Leeuwenhof locals have used an average of 165 liters per person per day, Helen Zille’s household has consumed a whopping 32 kilolitres per month.

According to Times Live, experts have determined that provided Mr. Grant’s figures are accurate, Zille and her family have used an average of 258 liters of water per person per day. The current target set by the city’s officials is a maximum of 87 liters per person per day.

Meanwhile, Zille’s office has issued a statement in response to the revelations, asserting that the reason for the installation of the plant would be to disconnect the premier from the city’s official water sources, thereby not contributing to consumption of strained municipal resources.

“Leeuwenhof has a natural spring that flows underneath it from the Table Mountain‚ so the plan is to purify that and replace the municipal water. If she is cut off from the system‚ how is she wasting?”

However, what most Cape Town residents are unaware of is that the natural springs running under their feet could be an additional source for the drought-stricken city if the water were diverted to the systems that serve the public.

While producing a three-part documentary series, Cape Town vlogger Adam Spires made a startling discovery: there are numerous underground streams that flow under the city from sources near the foothills of Table Mountain all the way out to sea.

An estimated 2.8 million liters of consumable water flows into the ocean per day, an amount that could contribute significantly to the city’s short supply of water.

Xanthea Limberg, a member of the city’s mayoral committee, has explained that they are currently in the process of applying for a license to utilize the streams.

Is it possible that Zille’s application to use the water was fast-tracked and prioritized above the needs of the public?

One of Adam Spires’ water tunnel explorations can be viewed below.

[Featured Image by Schalk van Zuydam/AP Images]

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