The Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa is probably more renowned for gang warfare, but it also contains a vital aquifer in the suburb of Philippi that has been the saving grace for the thousands of farmers in the area who have used it to water the city’s vegetables for more than two centuries.

It recently came to light that developers had applied to build middle-income houses on the beachy terrain, and this had activists up in arms as this aquifer is the secret weapon against drought for the farmers in this area and development would cause it to be lost forever with pernicious consequences for the metropole’s future supplies of fresh food.

Nazeer Sonday, an urban farmer and Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) campaigner said that the recent decision by Heritage Western Cape to turn down an application to develop houses in the area was a reprieve for thousands of farmers that work the land, which is about 3 000 hectares, on the outskirts of the city.

These farmers grow vegetables for city shops, informal traders and locals, thereby supplying a huge percentage of their daily needs. They are currently in the enviable position that they remain unaffected by the devastating drought that has gripped the Western Cape because they are able to continue to water their crops with water from the underground aquifer. Other farmers in the province rely on the current heavily-rationed piped water supplies.

Sonday warned though, that unless the City of Cape Town proactively protects the aquifer, all would be lost for generations to come, and added that should a housing developer get the go-ahead to build over the PHA, “storm water would be diverted and wasted, instead of refilling the aquifer.”

“We are the only production area in the country that is completely drought-proof,” he added. “The beauty of this area is that I don’t know of any other agricultural land so close to the city. Transport costs are low, and water costs are low because of the aquifer.”

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