The African National Congress arranged fake water cutoffs in the Cape Town suburb of Mitchell's Plain ahead of a visit by a Cabinet minister, Western Cape premier Helen Zille said on Thursday.

Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka, who toured the area on Tuesday, reportedly heard residents complain that their water had been cut off without warning.

Shiceka subsequently warned that national government would have to intervene if the city and province failed to deliver basic services.

Zille said in an open letter to Shiceka that she visited the area herself on Thursday morning.

"I spoke to residents in the exact area you visited, and could find no evidence of any water 'cut-offs'," she said.

People there had in fact assured her that the 350 litres of free water a day provided by the city was enough for their needs.

They also told her that the local ANC committee had spoken to residents before Shiceka's visit, telling them to turn off their water stop cocks, so that it would look as if the water was cut off when they turned on the taps inside their houses.

'Deeply shocking'

Various residents had told her they refused to do so. Others had complied with the ANC's instruction.

"I found this information deeply shocking," she said. "It was corroborated by three separate householders."

She said a local ANC activist had used the same tactic before the April 2009 election.

"It is greatly regrettable that you fell into the local ANC branch's trap," she said.

"I would like to believe you did so unwittingly."

Zille said it was against Cape Town city council policy to cut people's water off.

"We put in free water meters for people who qualify on our indigency database, and this guarantees free basic water every day on full flow," she said.

Shiceka, she said, could rest assured of both the local and provincial government's commitment to service delivery for all citizens.