The City of Cape Town's request that it be allowed to forego certain legislative hurdles to deal with its drought crisis has been approved by National Treasury, News24 reported. Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba reportedly gave the City permission to deviate from the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) to speed up the process of, for example, procurement.
Mayor Patricia De Lille said this also meant the City would not have to call a special council meeting to table its emergency budgetary adjustments, as it races to avoid running out of water by March next year.
"But I will report on these budgetary adjustments to council in December," she reportedly said.
"I want to extend a big thank you to team Cape Town because the help of residents and businesses is vital as the City of Cape Town rolls out its plan to secure more alternative water sources," De Lille said.
On Monday, De Lille said that a desalination facility at the V&A Waterfront would start delivering 2 million litres of water per day by February 2018, according to Eyewitness News (EWN).
The city's dams are currently at 28%.
De Lille reportedly promised eight other desalination sites.
"In Hout Bay, we will produce 4 million litres of water a day, and, in Granger Bay, 8 million litres of water and Red Hil... will produce about 2 million litres of water per day," she said.
Earlier this month, De Lille outlined the city's disaster management plan, warning that "day zero" would approach in March if urgent steps were not taken.
If the dams run dry, "there would be a limited period in which the city could supply water before complete water system failure", she said, according to Times Live.