The gravy train of the so-called water tankers mafia, who over the years have amassed riches from supplying water tankers services to various municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, has been stopped.
The Ilembe district municipality on the north coast of the province announced on Wednesday that it will now in-source the critical service.
In the process, the move will save more than R100-million from the public purse. Since it will now be procuring water tankers directly instead of relying on private-owned trucks.
“The current council, whose tenure began in November 2021, inherited an institution where there was a contract with a private service provider to supply the municipality with a total of 106 vehicles. This included 30 water tankers,” explained mayor Thobani Shandu.
To insource tankers, scrap leased fleet used by officials
He further said in the 2023/2024 financial year, the council took a decision to in-source the fleet. It sought that in two years the entire fleet should be owned by the municipality, as opposed to being leased.
Among the other sweeping changes announced by the district is doing away with leased vehicles used by officials.
“This will save council funds enormously. The R18-million we had budgeted for the 2024/2025 financial year has been depleted. This just three months into this financial year. It clearly indicates… that we could have possibly spent in the region R100-million at the end of the financial year.”
The Ilembe district, led by the ANC, covers four local municipalities. These are KwaDukuza, Mandeni, Ndwedwe and KwaMaphumulo.
Both the KwaMaphumulo and Ndwedwe are predominantly rural councils relying heavily on water tankers.
Opposition welcomes decision
Opposition councillors who were part of the group that received the consignment of water tankers welcomed the decision. They said the move was long overdue.
Municipal manager Sazi Mbhele told Sunday World that the in-sourcing exercise will save resources. It will ensure that the money saved is channelled to other key service delivery priorities.
“This is an important exercise to save public funds by ensuring that there’s value for money. But the water tankers are not a permanent solution. We’re currently busy with massive water infrastructure. So that communities will have uninterrupted water supply,” said Mbhele.
Over R9m spent to procure 30 tankers
The municipality revealed that it had spent R95.5-million procuring the 30 water tankers.
The water tankers mafia, some linked to politicians and feared taxi warlords, had been accused of wreaking havoc. They were believed to be key movers in sabotaging key water infrastructure. This so that various municipalities would procure the private tankers at a hefty cost.
In the case of eThekwini, the only metro in KwaZulu-Natal, the state security agency had to be roped in. This was to probe the workings and underhand dealings of the water tankers mafia.
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