In Cape Town, South Africa 'Day Zero' -- the day when the city will run out of water -- has been pushed back to next year. Now that the crisis has eased, members of parliament are demanding to know what caused it. CGTN's Rene Del Carme reports on a heated debate in the national assembly.  

The parliamentary debate kicked off with the opposition party, the National Freedom Party, saying the water crisis in the Democratic Alliance-run City of Cape Town was due to the negligence and recklessness of local authorities. And the NFP reminded Parliament that, like land in South Africa, the country's water had also been taken from Black people during Apartheid.

SHAIK EMAM NATIONAL FREEDOM PARTY "Let me tell you, especially for our colleagues from the EFF, you missed a very very important point, when you repeatedly say that our land was stolen. And yes, indeed, it was stolen. What you forgot to tell these people is that our water was also stolen. And in this particular house there are political parties right here now, that we're part and parcel of that corrupt Apartheid government."

The Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation said other parts of South Africa, had also been severely affected by drought. But that Cape Town wanted to be the focus of attention. She denied that the ANC-run Government had not done enough to mitigate the effects of the drought in the Western Cape.

PAM TSHWETE DEPUTY MINISTER, WATER AND SANITATION "The total sum allocated to the Western Cape totaled 74.8-million. It's very important that we get to know how much this has been utilized, on what. We are sick and tired of giving you money and you do nothing and you blame the national Government. We give you money, we give you teams. We assist you, you come here, you grandstand, you tell people, you lie to people, you say there is nothing the government is doing."

GEORDIN HILL-LEWIS MP, DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE "The Country is suffering the worst drought in 400 years. There are currently 26 towns in the Free State alone where there is absolutely no water supply. And according to a leaked briefing, Deputy Minister, taps across the country will run dry within the next five years."

RENE DEL CARME CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA "Speaker after speaker prefaced their remarks with a call to take politics out of the drought crisis debate. But many continued pointing fingers at rival political parties, which they accused of doing too little, too late, to avert the crisis. Ren Del Carme, CGTN, Cape Town, South Africa."