On 3rd, July, Consul General Kang Yong wrote a letter to Alderman Ian Neilson, Deputy Executive Mayor of Cape Town, extending his congratulations on no Day Zero in 2019. The full text is as follows:

 

                                                                                                                                July 3rd, 2018

 

Alderman Ian Neilson

Executive Deputy Mayor

City of Cape Town

Dear Alderman Ian Neilson,

Hope this letter finds you well.

I am so glad to learn that due to the continuous rainfall, Cape Town total dam storage capacity has reached 50% and that there will be no Day Zero for 2019 if appropriate water restrictions are maintained.

On behalf of the Chinese Consulate General and the local Chinese community, I’d like to extend my sincere congratulations to the government of City of Cape Town for having successfully pushing back the disastrous scenario of running out of water in the beautiful mother city one more year. This has not been an easy task. Without the strong leadership of the municipal government and concerted efforts of everyone living in Cape Town, we won’t be able to beat the curse of Day Zero now. At this moment, I do believe you must be very proud of your city, and your people.

From the very beginning when Day Zero alert was announced, the Chinese Consulate has been telling the staff and the local Chinese community that we are in the same boat with the Capetonians and we must drastically reduce the use of water for our common future. We have printed water saving posters for local Chinese business shops to help people improve their awareness of water saving. We have also advocated proper water using behaviour among Chinese tourists who might not be aware of the local drought situation.

In Chinese, the word “crisis” is actually combined by two English words, namely “crisis” and “opportunity”, which means under certain circumstances, crises and opportunities can be transformed from each other. As we see, when Captonians tiding over the hardship of drought, the great mother city has already taken a place in the vanguard of sustainable use of water resources in the 21st century.

Therefore, as we celebrate the encouraging announcement, we always bear in mind that the drought is still ongoing and the 6B restrictions are still in effect. I will call on my staff and the Chinese community in Cape Town to continue to keep their use of water below the limit line and foster behaviour change in water consumption even if eventually the Day Zero alert is lifted completely in the future.

Please accept the assurances of my highest regards.

 

Sincerely

 

Kang Yong

Consul General

Consulate General of the P.R.C. In Cape Town