Cape Town's water resilience chief absent from De Lille 'day zero' briefing

Tuesday’s briefing at which Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said “day zero” had moved forward was not informed by the council water resilience task team‚ its chairman Craig Kesson said.

In a bid to prevent taps running dry‚ the city appointed a task team chaired by Kesson in his capacity as council chief resilience officer.

The team‚ which consists of water experts‚ was tasked to come up with strategies to deal with water shortages caused by the drought.

Since its establishment‚ Kesson has been a key figure in media updates on the water crisis and has not missed a single briefing.

His absence was notable on Tuesday‚ leading to reporters asking De Lille about his whereabouts.

“I don’t know‚ he has not made an apology for this meeting. I don’t know whether he is back at work already‚” said De Lille.

“I think you’d better ask him the question why he is not here‚ I can’t answer for him.”

Kesson‚ who is also executive director in De Lille’s office‚ is at loggerheads with the mayor after he signed an affidavit implicating her in an alleged cover-up of corruption and maladministration.

As well as facing the chop by the DA‚ De Lille is the subject of a further probe by the council recommended by lawyers who investigated Kesson’s allegations.

When contacted yesterday‚ Kesson said he was still the chief resilience officer. “I did not go to the press conference today because what the mayor presented today did not come from the water resilience task team that is approved by council‚” he said.

He was meeting the task team for the first time this year only this week. “I don’t know [where she gets information on the water crisis] ... there was no press briefing in my diary and I would not attend a press briefing that does not involve the task team‚” said Kesson.

At the briefing‚ De Lille said day zero had moved forward by a week to April 22.