text: The responsibility for providing water to the South African population falls squarely on the "National" Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) and I quote directly from their legislative mandate "seeks to ensure that the country’s water resources are protected, managed, used, developed, conserved and controlled by regulating and supporting the delivery of effective water supply and sanitation." The DA has been pretty powerless other than begging the ANC to recognize the crisis (which until Jan/Feb this year they refused. So far the National Government has contributed R60 million or R10.84 per person in the Western Cape. The drought is real. The DA's response is real. The ANC is the only one with the powers to assist and they are also the only party to refuse.