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According to Census 2022 data, Cape Town’s population is now booming at 4,772,846 people.

That’s a remarkable 27.6% jump from what it was in 2011.

While this might seem lekker for the economy, it does put a major strain on the environment… and locals’ pockets.

IOL notes that the Mother City’s rapid population growth has added extra stress to its already existing water infrastructure problems.

The City said increasing Cape Town’s water supply sources is crucial to being able to accommodate everyone, even as population growth and climate change pose direct risks to water security in a city prone to drought.

In a bid to increase water supply sources, the Water and Sanitation Directorate has implemented the New Water Programme (NWP), which aims to add 300 million litres of water per day from new sources by 2030. This will be done by clearing alien invasive plants, extracting groundwater through aquifers, reusing water, maintaining infrastructure and planning for desalination in the long term.

Meanwhile, more and more people are flooding Cape Town as the door to the rest of the world opens ever wider. Digital nomads have been flocking over to our shores:

@itsnthabim That’s nice 🙂. Hope the locals are doing ok though! 🤝🏾 #digitalnomads #digitalnomadsincapetown #gentrification #capetown #southafrica ♬ original sound – Nthabi | Style. Thrift. Travel

Business Insider reported that the country has been preparing to introduce a digital nomad visa, allowing foreign nationals to live and work remotely in the country.

The new visa categories, including a remote working visa and a critical skills visa, aim to attract skilled workers, especially from the tech industry, by offering the lifestyle benefits of remote work. Criteria for the critical skills visa include a minimum annual income of R1 million ($55,000) to ensure contributors can maintain a high standard of living and bolster the local economy.

If you feel a little panicked at the realisation that this could make things a lot more expensive (even outright unaffordable) for locals, then you are not alone. Locals all over TikTok have been begging digital nomads to leave, pitching all the bad things about the Mother City in a bid to dissuade them from coming and staying.

@alexaraad #stitch with @Nthabi | Style. Thrift. Travel no hate personally, i just h8 traffic ❤️ #capetown ♬ original sound – lex ❀

Cape Town ranked the best African country for digital nomads throws into question the pressure foreign presence will put on rental prices, restaurant prices, and general space.

While I acknowledge that this conversation can feel like it’s tapering into xenophobic rhetoric, which is dangerous, one cannot help but feel like the locals are being increasingly priced out by foreign digital nomads and investors whose currencies go further than the ailing Rand.

IOL reported in a separate article that local first-time home buyers and everyday renters in Cape Town are having a tough start to 2024 for this exact reason.

Not only are some areas such as the Atlantic Seaboard and areas in the City Bowl becoming highly unaffordable for locals to buy into, rentals themselves are on the rise.