JOHANNESBURG – The SA Weather Service has called Western Cape Premier Helen Zille opportunistic and disingenuous.

Zille reportedly blamed the water crisis in her province on the SA Weather Service getting predictions “all wrong” and went on to claim models “didn’t work, in an era of climate change”.

The SA Weather Service, in a stinging statement, said it had spoken to the Premier and asked her to refrain from casting aspersions in public.

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The statement concludes that Zille “must appreciate that she is not a meteorologist nor a scientist” and that she and officials must “stop making unwarranted comments about the scientific work of the South Africa Weather Service and frankly, all scientific communities, including engineers providing information to her and other policymakers.”

“Blaming the weather or climate and the Weather Service is a cop-out for policy inaction and ineptitude in the implementation of multidisciplinary research and reports that have long pointed to water challenges in the country, the Western Cape and in Cape Town,” the statement ended.

eNCA