As Steve Davidson says, there has been an unprecedented rush to CT  in the last few years due to the ANC's failure to provide effective service delivery in areas such as the Eastern Cape. As New York City is to the USA, Cape Town is to South Africa - a well run city which serves as a magnet for the poor and the disillusioned from other parts of the country. From what I can gather from recent media coverage of the drought, the weather patterns have also had an adverse effect on rainfall. These two factors, coupled with the unavoidable amount of time needed to plan and build new dams and reservoirs has created the 'perfect storm'. However, there is room for improvement and I'm sure Patricia is aware of the challenges and is formulating emergency measures to prevent a disaster. The ANC has no room to talk - 21 years after they took over we were still having rolling blackouts.