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First it took our baths (unless you happen to try your luck at a local hotel), and now it’s taking our jobs.

During a joint Parliamentary Committee sitting heard yesterday, red flags were raised “over possible civil unrest in the Western Cape”.

The reason? A predicted loss of 50 000 jobs, thanks to the agricultural sector taking a hammering during the drought and ensuing water crisis.

News24 reports:

“The impact on the economy is worse for the agricultural [sector] than for the domestic sector,” said Graham Paulse, head of department in the province’s department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta).

“Regarding food security; you will see that there will be a risk around safety and security, and we are taking that into account,” he said.

He said about R40m in agricultural workers’ wages had already been lost as farmers cut back drastically on planting and harvesting to save water.

Areas like Ceres have been hard hit, and two canning factories in Saldanha Bay may soon close, which would put around 5 000 people out of work.

If you’re still thinking hey, won’t affect me, then consider this:

Nurseries and car washes are closing down, and the construction industry, which uses vast amounts of water, is also facing a crisis.

This is likely to impact on the delivery of government buildings, such as new schools, and road repairs.

“This will impact on normal service delivery in the province,” [Paulse] said.

In addition, the drier terrain means that there will be even more fires than usual in the province going forward.

All the doom and gloom (a necessary evil) does seem to have hit home with some locals, though, because City of Cape Town resilience officer Gareth Morgan reported that the City’s usage had dropped to 585 million litres per day.

Considering that we were using 1 100 million litres a day back in January, that’s progress.

You can find more info on that Portfolio Committees on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation, and Agriculture meeting in Parliament yesterday on the Daily Maverick.

Do what you can at home, and keep having awkward conversations with people who think this is someone else’s crisis.

You know who you are…

[sources:news24&dailymaverick]