22-663: Theewaterskloof Dam is an earth-fill type dam located on the Sonderend River near Villiersdorp , Western Cape , South Africa . Administratively it is located within Theewaterskloof Local Municipality . It was established in 1978 and is the largest dam in the Western Cape Water Supply System with a capacity of 480 million cubic metres, about 41% of the water storage capacity available to Cape Town , which has
44-561: A Commission on the Demarcation/Delimitation of Regions created by CODESA , and were broadly based on planning regions demarcated by the Development Bank of Southern Africa in the 1980s, and amalgamated from existing magisterial districts , with some concessions to political parties that wished to consolidate their power bases, by transferring districts between the proposed provinces. The definitions of
66-476: A capacity of 480,406 megalitres (16,965.4 × 10 ^ cu ft) of water, and when full the reservoir covers an area of 5,059 hectares (12,500 acres). The catchment area of 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) is served by streams emanating in the Hottentots Holland mountain range. This area has a long-term average of 69 days with precipitation per year. Historically records show we are in
88-425: A dry period 1mm of rain per square meter equates to 500 000 000 litres falling on this area. Hence it requires a full metre of rainfall with 100% runoff to fill the dam from totally empty, which is unlikely to happen in any single year. It takes a few days for all the runoff to reach the dam. Evaporation and how saturated the ground is affects the amount of water reaching the dam. An average amount of between 9% and 15%
110-704: A maximum flood of 394 cubic metres per second (13,900 cu ft/s). The Charmaine intake tower draws water from the reservoir into the Franschhoek Tunnel, which conveys it under the Franschhoek Mountains into the Berg River catchment and ultimately into Cape Town's water supply. In winter the tunnel can operate in reverse, conveying surplus water from the Berg River into Theewaterskloof. An additional intake tower supplies water to
132-576: A national, provincial and local level. Nationally, there is the National Council of Provinces, one of the houses of Parliament. Then there is the provincial government and, below that, the administration of district and metropolitan municipalities. South Africa has two houses of parliament: the National Assembly, and the National Council of Provinces. The second exists to ensure that the interests of each province are protected in
154-424: A population of over 4 million people. The dam mainly serves for municipal and industrial use as well as for irrigation purposes. The hazard potential of the dam has been ranked high (3). Theewaterskloof Dam's earth-fill wall is 646 metres (2,119 ft) long and 35 metres (115 ft) high. An inlet tower and conduit through the wall allow for releases of water into the Sonderend River . The spillway can handle
176-468: A system of party-list proportional representation ; by convention, they are all elected on the same day, at the same time as the National Assembly election. The provincial legislature elects, from amongst its members, a Premier , who is the head of the executive. The Premier chooses an Executive Council consisting of between five and ten members of the legislature, which is the cabinet of
198-507: Is used to offset the values against evaporation and soil absorption. A deeper dam has less evaporation due to less surface area per volume. The Theewaterskloof Dam is also the home of the annual Synergy Live music festival, one of the biggest outdoor music festivals in South Africa, which typically takes place on the last weekend of November or the first weekend of December. Sonderend River The Sonderend River , also known as
220-625: The Riviersonderend ( Afrikaans for River without an end ), is a main tributary of the Breede River , located in Western Cape Province , South Africa . The village of Riviersonderend is believed to have taken its name from the river. In 1673, Willem ten Rhyne referred to the river as "sine fine flumen" ( Latin for "endless river"). In 1707, Jan Hatogh, a Dutch East India Company horticulturist, referred to
242-409: The black population started as early as 1913, with ownership of land by the black majority being restricted to certain areas totalling about 13% of the country. From the late 1950s, these areas were gradually consolidated into " homelands ", also called " bantustans ". Four of these homelands were established as quasi-independent nation states of the black population during the apartheid era. In 1976,
SECTION 10
#1732780961227264-642: The Vyeboom Irrigation Board for irrigation of areas around the dam. Below-average rainfall since 2015 have seen the Theewaterskloof water level drop to critical levels. Water restrictions were imposed by the City of Cape Town in 2016 to meet a target of 600 million litres of water per day, with residents limited to 100 litres of water per day and a ban on car washing, watering gardens and topping up swimming pools with municipal water. By
286-785: The borders of seven of the provinces. The Union of South Africa was established in 1910 by combining four British colonies: Cape Colony ; Natal Colony ; Transvaal Colony ; Orange River Colony . The last two were, before the Second Boer War , independent republics known as the South African Republic and the Orange Free State . These colonies became the four original provinces of the Union: Cape Province ; Transvaal Province ; Natal Province ; Orange Free State Province . Segregation of
308-510: The dam was again approaching critically low level, resulting in water consumption being limited to only 50 litres per person per day, and plans for a possible "Day Zero" in April 2018 when Cape Town's municipal water supply was predicted to be shut off. As a result of good rains in the winters of 2019 and 2020, the Theewaterskloof water level reached 100% in October 2020. Theewaterskloof dam has
330-648: The end of the 2017 dry season, Theewaterskloof had declined to a level of 12.9%, with the last 10% mostly unreachable. A storm in June 2017 brought heavy rain, increasing the level to 15%, but overall rainfall in 2017 remained very low. Media footage of the declining dam level sparked the importance of conserving water. Water restrictions in Cape Town were increased from Level 4 to Level 4b on 1 July 2017, limiting consumption to 87 litres of water per person per day. Rainfall in 2017 remained well below average, and by early 2018
352-525: The four provinces were increased to nine. The borders of Natal and the Orange Free State were retained, while the Cape Province and Transvaal were divided into three provinces each, plus North West Province which straddles the border of and contains territory from both these two former provinces. The twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth amendments to the Constitution of South Africa changed
374-636: The homeland of Transkei was the first to accept independence from South Africa, and although this independence was never acknowledged by any other country, three other homelands – Bophuthatswana (1977), Venda (1979) and Ciskei (1981) – followed suit. On 27 April 1994, the date of the first non-racial elections and of the adoption of the Interim Constitution , all of these provinces and homelands were dissolved, and nine new provinces were established. The boundaries of these provinces were established in 1993 by
396-595: The laws passed by the National Assembly. Each one of South Africa's nine provinces sends 10 representatives to the National Council of Provinces. Six of these are permanent members of the council, and four are special delegates. Each province is governed by a unicameral legislature . The size of the legislature is proportional to population, ranging from 30 members in the Northern Cape to 80 in KwaZulu-Natal . The legislatures are elected every five years by
418-656: The new provinces in terms of magisterial districts were found in Schedule 1 of the Interim Constitution . On 11 July 2003, the 11th amendment to the fifth constitution renamed the Northern Province to Limpopo . On 1 March 2006, the 12th and 13th amendments altered the boundaries of 7 provinces. On 3 April 2009 the 16th amendment altered the boundaries of the North West and Gauteng provinces. South Africa's provinces are governed, in different ways, on
440-540: The provincial government. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are the provincial equivalent of ministers . The powers of the provincial government are limited to specific topics listed in the national constitution . On some of these topics – for example, agriculture, education, health and public housing – the province's powers are shared with the national government, which can establish uniform standards and frameworks for
462-410: The provincial governments to follow; on other topics the provincial government has exclusive power. The provinces do not have their own court systems, as the administration of justice is the responsibility of the national government. Footnotes: HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes ISO: Province codes from ISO 3166-2 . For full identification in a global context, prefix "ZA-" to
SECTION 20
#1732780961227484-468: The river as the "Kantdydnn", likely derived from the Hessequa "Kamma-kan Kamma", roughly "water, endless water" or "endless river". The Hessequa were a local tribe of Khoi-khoi herders. Provinces of South Africa South Africa is divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 general election , South Africa's former homelands, known as Bantustans , were reintegrated into the country, and
#226773