[imagesource:jennievans]

When the dust has settled, and Day Zero is something we look at in the rear-view mirror, the anger surrounding the City’s handling of our water crisis will still rage on.

The damage to the DA, in particular, will only be known when voters go to the polls for our general election next year, but there’s no denying that it’s not done them any favours.

It seems odd, then, to believe that Day Zero is a plot cooked up by the City to fleece its citizens, but that’s what members of the Tafelsig Activists Forum (TAF) are saying.

Yesterday they marched to the gates of Premier Helen Zille’s official residence, Leeuwenhof, attempting to fill up containers from a tap outside of her house.

More from the Mail & Guardian:

They claimed that #DayZero was “fake news”.

“The City is deliberately creating a scarcity, scaring the people about the Day Zero,” said Shaheed Mohammed, a committee member of the Tafelsig Activists Forum (TAF), outside Zille’s gate, while police looked on.

“Day Zero is a myth, Day Zero is fake, it’s news being promoted by the City and by the province,” said Mohamed.

He said there was water available, but that the City was “creating” the scarcity which had led to calls for a drastic reduction in water consumption.

This had led to the construction of temporary desalination plants and the drilling of the Mitchells Plain aquifer at great cost and potential environmental damage, he said.

The group had encouraged Capetonians to come to Zille’s residence and join in, bringing their containers along as well, but those efforts were something of a letdown:

Waving an empty water container in the air, TAF chairperson Sulyman Stellenboom switched on the tap next to a small waterfall at the entrance to Zille’s residence [below]

About half a cup of water came out before the flow stopped.

A policeman explained to the group that the tap had been switched off because the water purification system was not working.

Next to the small waterfall was a sign warning that the water was not drinkable.

Of course Helen had her say on Twitter:

I think the people of this city have a right to be angry with the City’s management of the crisis, but a little common sense goes a long way.

Day Zero being fake news? Next thing someone’s going to tell me that Elon Musk didn’t call Trump a dumbass.

[source:mg]