What do you do when your city is running out of water?
Settlements such as Gugulethu have long been marginalized.
“I don’t know what we’ll do if they stop flowing,” said Richard Ndabezitha, 60, who is living on a $200-per-month government pension.
In upscale parts of the city, bottled water has been sold out for days at a time.
TOP: A borehole is drilled at a home in Constantia, a wealthy suburb of Cape Town, by De Wet’s Wellpoints and Boreholes, a company that has been so overwhelmed by jobs that it had to stop taking on new work until they can catch up with their list.
The water shortage is far from the only example of how Cape Town’s poorest communities have struggled for basic services.
For some of the city’s poorest residents, the other stark reminder of inequality relates to the way water is used.
“They’re using water to fill their pools!” she exclaimed.
“That’s why we don’t have any left.” Still, she added: “If I had a pool, I guess I’d be filling it, too.” About 10 miles away from Gugulethu, in the suburb of Table View, Carsten Hensel, 31, was having a wellpoint installed in his back yard, next to his swimming pool.
Now, we’re able to stockpile water.” As the drought deepened last year, and people began to talk about the possibility of a water shortage, Cloete bought 250 liters of bottled water for about $65, filling a room in his home in the Bothasig suburb.