Following an application for grant funding, the City of Cape Town received confirmation this week that they will receive grant funding for drought relief efforts from the national government. 

The City’s executive mayor, Patricia de Lille, said in a media statement, “We are very grateful for this support and look forward to receiving an allocation of R553.05-million. I will be writing a letter of acknowledgement and thanks to the national government for this support.”

The funds must be used in line with the City’s application for the funding for the Cape Flats, Atlantis and Table Mountain Group Aquifer recharge projects and in terms of the Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant Conditions.

Caption: The direct conditional grant funding for drought relief was received from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Image credit: Alberton Record

Following the gazetting of the grant in October, the funds will be reflected on the City’s Informal Settlements, Waste and Water Services department’s budget to be spent in terms of the project delivery plan.

The direct conditional grant funding for drought relief was received from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (incorporating the National Disaster Management Centre) in conjunction with National Treasury. De Lille extended her gratitude to these departments as well as the Western Cape Provincial Government for the role they played in facilitating access to this funding support which will strengthen the City’s efforts to ensure water security. She further commended Team Cape Town for all their brilliant water-saving efforts and asked that the City continue with this trend as their dams still need to recover fully.

The executive mayor concluded that Cape Town has received very good rains this winter but as the City heads into the summer months, Capetonians must constantly remember to adhere to their new relationship with water and continue using it as sparingly as possible.