The catastrophic drought in South Africa is resulting in rural towns in the Western Cape succumbing one by one as theft, corruption and an outdated and collapsed water infrastructure threatening not only agriculture but animal and human lives as well.

South Africa is currently experiencing a 38 billion cubic metre annual water deficit and a massive R30-billion a year to bridge the gap in water services infrastructure, the situation for thousands of locals is dire. What is even more horrifying is that South Africa’s emergency Plan B – underground water reservoirs – is in danger of rapidly evaporating.

The Karoo district is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa, and is famous for its ostriches and for its “Karoo Lamb” which is said to be among the best lamb in the world.

Beaufort West is “ground zero” of the catastrophic drought that has gripped Western Cape; it is a town where the local dam is at 0% capacity; 20% of the town’s municipal drinking water is recycled sewage and the rest comes from still functioning boreholes which are quickly running dry.

The town’s 50,000 residents are struggling, and it’s a case of survival of the fittest with thefts from outside household taps causing owners to remove the taps. Residents can only bathe once a week, and guesthouse owners have removed baths from rooms; the three community pools will be closed for the summer because of the drought, and the municipal swimming pool employees have been forced to find work elsewhere.

Animals are dying because there is no water and no feed; farmers from Mpumalanga organised a mass convoy to deliver 1500 animal feed bales to the drought-stricken Karoo town on November 08, 2017.

The Karoo is not the only region that is suffering, and Beaufort West not the only town; residents of the North West town of Lichtenburg are also suffering, as are those in Limpopo’s Dopeni, where people are forced to buy water daily from those with boreholes.

Mpumalanga resident Fortunate Katshi said: “We have had water shortages for almost four years now. We bought JoJo tanks and they open the water for us once a week. We are now used to this situation.”

The crisis in rural towns is rapidly encroaching on cities.

Frans Mathabatha, who lives in Randfontein on the West Rand, said: “Every week you will see there is no water.”

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