Helen Zille slammed for blaming drought issues on weather service
The Western Cape Premier has taken to her Twitter account to defend herself, but many are not impressed by her comments. If the weather service isn't to blame for the drought, who is?
Who is to be blamed for the Western Cape drought? Listen as KZN share their views with Damon in the podcast, then read more below:
Amidst the water crisis in Cape Town, there’s a ‘storm’ brewing after The South African Weather Service (SAWS) criticised Helen Zille for suggesting that the province faced a water crisis because their predictions were wrong.
Read: SAMWU criticises Water Department over threats of water cuts
Zille recently told BBC's 'Newsnight' that the weather service models 'no longer worked' and that the Province is facing a crisis because they got their predictions all wrong.
“The South African weather services have told me their models don’t work anymore in an era of Climate Change… the experts can’t predict anything anymore”- Premier of the Western Cape @HelenZille tells #newsnight pic.twitter.com/U8fVEv5UUy
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) January 24, 2018
She responded on Saturday by taking to her Twitter account to dismiss claims that she blamed them.
She posted a picture of the rain forecast predictions for 2017, saying that 'I did not blame them for getting it wrong. I said it is HARD to get right in conditions of climate change. They shouldn't try to deny what they predicted.'
For anyone interested in facts, here is the SA Weather Service prediction for Winter 2017 forecasting above normal rainfall. I did not blame them for getting it wrong. I said it is HARD to get right in conditions of climate change. They shouldn't try to deny what they predicted. pic.twitter.com/Tr2zi8sY9g
— Helen Zille (@helenzille) January 27, 2018
According to News24, SAWS responded in a statement via a post on their Facebook page, saying that the drought is something that could never have been foreseen.
They’ve offered Zille access to weather information and resources so that she could speak more knowledgeably and not speculate.
'Blaming the weather, or climate and the Weather Service is a cop-out for policy inaction and ineptitude in implementation of multidisciplinary research and reports that have long pointed to the water challenge in the country, the Western Cape and in Cape Town,' they added.
I tried to get in touch with SAWS, but they were unavailable for comment.
Here's how social media reacted to the statement released by SAWS and the comments by the Premier:
After hearing arguments from both SAWS and Zille, who do you think is to blame for the water crisis in Cape Town?
Should the blame fall on those who are supposed to provide accurate weather reports or government for not acting sooner?