Minister suspects water sabotaged for profit

● Co-operative governance minister Zweli Mkhize is investigating a group of businessmen suspected of deliberately damaging water pipes, cutting supply to a North West town, to score a R2m-a-month contract to roll out water tankers.

Mkhize told the Sunday Times this week that he suspects that unscrupulous business people with political links are behind the sabotage of water pipes in a municipality that includes the town of Vryburg.

Mkhize has put the Naledi local municipality on terms since his intervention two weeks ago.

The community protested last month against the municipality, demanding basic services like water.

Mkhize said when he arrived at the municipality, he was told there was no money to restore the pipes.

“We go there … and we find there is sabotage of infrastructure. Every time people are coming with water tankers to provide water,” he said.

The minister said pipes were burnt, and at times protests were engineered, “to camouflage the sabotage”. The municipality would then have little option but to call in water tanks.

A closer look, he said, uncovered the fact that the municipality was paying R2.3m per month for the tankers.

“There is unscrupulous business interest,” said Mkhize.

He has launched an investigation into who owns the water tankers, and asked the department of water & sanitation to provide funds for new pipes.

Mkhize said he also got the provincial government to provide security along the pipeline to avoid further sabotage.

The Naledi municipality, he said, was an example of how political infighting in local government affected the lives of ordinary people.

“A culture has developed that for a small amount of money, people can be starved of water and nobody seems to be caring — something that can be easily resolved,” Mkhize said.

“Political infighting and factionalism are disastrous for municipalities. It has to be dealt with and solved because it creates an environment where the rest of the institutional processes battle to keep their integrity. Everything you do, you need the political leadership to endorse the administrative processes,” he said.

Another example of this is the Maluti-a-Phofung local municipality in the Free State, which includes the town of Qwa-Qwa.

Last week President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to act against those responsible for the corruption that led to the collapse of the municipality.

Now Mkhize’s department has intervened to restore services to the area.

He has put together a team of people who have been given specific tasks to deal with the many problems in the municipality.

“We said if this doesn’t happen, somebody’s head is going to roll,” he said.

Mkhize said while investigations and court action go on, the department has to resolve the complete dysfunction in the municipality.

He has seconded experts from his department to turn around the situation there and has given them time frames to solve issues ranging from leaking water pipes to electrical failures.

But, said Mkhize, the turnaround of the municipality largely depends on whether factional political fighting in the area can be resolved.

He said as an ANC minister he has raised the issue with the party. The consequences of a political fight for resources are, he said, “very, very bad”.