Capetonians will have to wait several weeks to hear if water restrictions are to be further relaxed.

Farmers, also waiting to hear if they will be allocated more irrigation water, are getting worried about the effects of the delay.

Rashid Khan, regional head of the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, said on Monday officials from the national department would meet on November 14 to decide whether they could increase the water allocation to Cape Town, surrounding towns and to the local fruit and wine farmers who have been badly hit by the drought and the 60% cut in irrigation water.

SPECIAL REPORT: Water Crisis

Municipalities were placed under restrictions to cut water use by 45%.

On November 19 the department officials will meet all the municipalities, irrigation boards and agricultural bodies that depend on the “big six” dams in the Cape water supply system and tell them what their decision is.

“At the stakeholder meeting we will make known the decision from the department, and we will discuss the best way forward. Then what comes out of that stakeholder meeting will go back to national department,” Khan said.

Dams at 74% full

The department will assess the feedback from the stakeholder meeting and make its final decision afterward.

READ: Gauteng dams almost 100% full, Western Cape levels stable

Khan said he was unable to say when the department would announce its final decision, but said it would be before the end of November.

The total amount of water in the big six dams has hovered around 74% of storage capacity for the last two weeks – double the 37% it was this time last year.

Khan said in the meantime the department had released irrigation water for the farmers on November 1 – the start of the new hydrological year.

The Department of Water and Sanitation had cut off irrigation water once agriculture had reached its quota when dam levels were dangerously low.

The water that farmers are getting now is from the new hydrological year’s quota, but for the time being they are still bound by the 60% reduction until the department makes its decision on whether this cut can be reduced.

Delays ‘just not on’

Carl Opperman, CEO of Agri Wes-Cape, said the agricultural sector was not happy with the delays in decision-making.

Opperman had taken the matter up with the water and sanitation portfolio committee in Parliament.

“From our side the delay is just not on. We said in August we would need to know by mid-October by the latest what would happen with the water allocations so we know where we stand for planning purposes. We’re in dire straits here and need our full water allocation,” Opperman said.

Agri Wes-Cape had commissioned two experts to do some number crunching on the water situation.

“Their calculations showed we could get our full allocation this year and so could go back into normal production.”

The wine, grape and deciduous fruit sectors needed normal water allocation to recover from the drought, and from the recent heat wave.

Full effect of drought still unknown

Opperman said the department had models to work out allocations that they should have run on November 1.

“We had a meeting on August 24 with the water department and all the municipalities and irrigation boards, and we put our models on the table. It was agreed then that these would be discussed on September 21, but that meeting never happened.”

Opperman said the full effect of the drought on agriculture would not be properly quantified for the next three years.

“And then only if we get normal rainfall years. There are areas that need to be replanted, there are trees that have to brought back into production, so it will be some time before we know the full effect of the drought.”

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The ANC of the Western Cape blasted the Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) following racism allegations aimed at Rustenburg Girls’ Juniour School after the retrenchment of a black teacher.

This followed a report by the Mail & Guardian on Friday that the teacher, Nozipho Mthembu, who was also a former pupil at the top school, had resigned after a fraught period in which her performance was questioned.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) was involved, the report said. The teacher said she did not experience racism, but had felt undermined and unsupported.

“The ANC is deeply concerned with the manner in which the young teacher was treated at the school and was forced to resign,” ANC Western Cape education spokesperson Theo Olivier said.

“It is also shocking that SGBs [school governing bodies] and principals at former Model C schools have become a law unto themselves and some oppose the country’s transformation agenda. This is what gives rise to the attitude of learners there that see black teachers as care takers and givers, but not real teachers.”

READ: Top Cape Town girls’ school caught in transformation row

Olivier claims that education MEC Debbie Schafer and the WCED failed to act despite being aware of the situation.

“This shows that for as long as Schäfer remains in office, racism in Western Cape schools will continue unabated, as she appears to be opposed to transformation,” he added.

Schafer fired back by saying that Olivier was not acquainted with the full facts surrounding Mthembu’s resignation.

“As usual, their point of departure is that if a person of colour is dismissed, it must be racism,” she said in a statement.  

“He has clearly made no attempt to find out the facts in this matter, and whether there were good reasons for Ms Mthembu’s resignation.”

Schafer also claims that the department was not aware of allegations of racism involving Mthembu.

“At the time we were also not aware of allegations of racism involving this Educator. The Educator was employed by the School Governing Body and not the WCED,” she clarified.

“The Department therefore was not aware of the processes relating to the teacher’s appointment and subsequent resignation.”

She conceded that general issues regarding the lack of transformation at the school have been raised and said that the Head of Department is having discussions in order to resolve them.

“We are committed to building an inclusive society for all, and quality education for every child in every classroom in every school in the province, and will continue to work towards this,” Schafer said.

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Here is a wrap of News24’s coverage from a week in which widespread blazes in the Southern Cape took a fiery toll on firefighters and uprooted communities.

Reporters Christina Pitt and Zukile Daniels were on the scene to experience first-hand the devastation of the fires that left at least eight people dead.

No end in sight for fires raging along Garden Route

Residents from different areas across the Garden Route have been evacuated as a precaution as fires continue to rage, officials said on Saturday afternoon.

‘I was five minutes too late to help my family’ – grieving father recalls Southern Cape blaze

Nataniel Oelf will probably remember the morning of October 29 for the rest of his life.

It was when he lost three of his daughters and three nieces, aged between one and 12 years, in the horrific fire of Farleigh in the Southern Cape.

‘We sing to keep our spirits up’ – Firefighters continue to battle Southern Cape blaze

Although many of them have lost everything, the brave women and men from Working on Fire continue to battle the flames that have engulfed the Southern Cape.

Working on Fire spokesperson Lauren Howard said that at least 16 firefighters had been personally affected by the fire.

“They lost everything,” she said.

‘We don’t know what happened’ – relative of Southern Cape fire victims recalls chaotic evacuation

The farming community Farleigh in the Southern Cape is a ghost town following a fire that claimed eight lives on Tuesday.

When News24 arrived, only the carcasses of burnt-out cars and rubble remained of the once vibrant community.

Residents were quickly evacuated and accommodated in Sedgefield Town Hall on Monday evening when a raging fire spread from a nearby mountain to the residences.

Fire claims 1847 toll house at Montagu Pass, but this is not the end of the road

Two world wars, a hungry forest fire and the sneaky hands of vandals and thieves – this is what the old Toll House on the Montagu Pass has survived in its 171 years of existence.

George fires – how a community came together

“When we started thinking of what to pack and what to leave when the evacuation order came, it felt unreal,” says Francois Mulder, a reverend in the Blanco congregation in George in the Western Cape.

‘I could feel the fire coming closer and closer’, says George resident as firefighters aim to battle blaze throughout the night

“I have never been so scared in my life,” said a George resident about a raging blaze that claimed the lives of eight people in Bosdorp.

“I could feel the fire coming closer and closer,” said Elsabé Basson.

De Vlugt fire reignites, but Southern Cape fires contained

Even though several firefighting crews worked through the night to contain a blaze in De Vlugt in the Southern Cape, the fire became active again on Thursday.

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No matter how badly your week is going, it can’t be worse than the one Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba is having.

His began with a sex tape and ended with a court judgment. Gigaba has truly had a week from hell.

On Sunday, October 28 at 06:52, Gigaba’s week kicked off with a series of tweets, announcing that a “video containing content of a sexual nature” had been leaked. He said it had been used in attempts to blackmail him, and apologised to his family for the embarrassment caused.

It later emerged that the tape only involved Gigaba and it quickly went viral on social media.

My wife and I have learned, with regret and sadness, that a video containing material of a sexual nature, meant for our eyes only, which was stolen when my communication got illegally intercepted/my phone got hacked, in 2016/17, is circulating among certain political figures…

— Malusi Gigaba (@mgigaba) October 28, 2018

Reporting on the issue was initially sombre – many sympathised with the minister, and experts warned about the dangers of sex tapes in the age of social media. But it wasn’t long before Gigaba’s woes became internet meme fodder, the inspiration behind a Gqom song, and a Zapiro cartoon.

Fireblade saga

On Tuesday afternoon, Gigaba was in the limelight again, when the Oppenheimer family appeared before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs to give evidence about the minister’s role in the Fireblade airport saga.

A court found Gigaba guilty of lying when he denied granting permission to the Oppenheimer family’s Fireblade Aviation to operate a private terminal at OR Tambo International.

Nicky Oppenheimer reportedly told the home affairs committee that Gigaba was “self-destructing” with his continuous denials.

Oppenheimer’s business partner, Manne Dipico, reportedly said Gigaba had granted the company permission “finish en klaar”, according to TimesLive.

On Wednesday, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that Gigaba lied under oath and violated the executive ethics code. Gigaba was reported to Mkhwebane by the DA in February, following a court judgment which found that he lied to the court when he denied granting permission to Fireblade to operate the private terminal.

Mkhwebane said on Wednesday that Fireblade had obtained permission from several organs of state, including Gigaba in his capacity of minister of Home Affairs. Gigaba’s decision to approve the application was confirmed at a meeting in January 2016, she said.

Fireblade went to court in an attempt to force Gigaba to implement this decision.

Public Protector’s recommendation

She recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa take action against Gigaba. The president is applying his mind to the issue.

Next week, the home affairs committee is likely to call Gigaba to account for what happened.

Constitutional Court

On Thursday, the Constitutional Court dismissed Gigaba’s application for leave to appeal the High Court ruling. His initial appeal was dismissed with costs in the Supreme Court of Appeal earlier this year.

Fireblade welcomed the court’s decision on Thursday, saying in a statement: “With this decision, these legal proceedings have now concluded. We are satisfied with the result and the manner in which the legal process has culminated in a just and fair outcome.”

But on Twitter, on Thursday, Gigaba’s spokesperson, Vuyo Mkhize, continued to deny that Gigaba approved Fireblade’s application.

very simple question, does this letter tell you that the writer knows and believes that his application was already approved? please just try to keep an open and objective mind for long enough to go through the letter and answer the question… pic.twitter.com/ZF9ecyhNdR

— the renegade saint (@VuyoMkhize) November 2, 2018

Not in my name supporters and sympathizers of the rape victim gather outside during the appearance of a man who is accused of raping a 7-year-old child at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on October 2.  

The man allegedly raped a 7-year-old girl in the bathroom of Dros restaurant on September 22. (Thulani Mbele, Gallo Images, Sowetan, file)