Political parties are clashing over claims linked to millions spent on water tanker services in Tshwane.
Many questions are swirling about the future of City of Tshwane deputy mayor Eugene Modise following allegations of water tanker corruption worth millions of rands resurfacing.
Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya, the ANC and the EFF have yet to comment on the latest allegations about Modise, who is also the MMC of finance, and his alleged involvement in millions of rands spent on water tankers, despite not owning one.
DA’s Brink welcomes investigation into tanker spending
DA mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink has welcomed the progress in exposing what he described as Tshwane’s water tanker mafia and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation into the R777 million spent on water tankers by Tshwane in the 2024-25 financial year.
“This is an important step towards uncovering the full extent of corruption and abuse by Tshwane’s water tanker mafia.
“The seriousness of this matter was further underscored by a Sunday Times report which exposed that companies linked to two senior ANC leaders – most notably the ANC deputy mayor and MMC for finance, who received R31.7 million in water tanker contracts despite not owning a single water tanker,” he said.
Dispute over cancellation of tanker tender
Brink said the ballooning of water tanker expenditure under the ANC-led administration had laid bare the real reason the ANC removed the DA from government in Tshwane.
“In June 2024, the DA-led administration cancelled a water tanker tender before it could be awarded after material irregularities were identified.
The DA administration also refused to pay water tanker operators who protested at Tshwane House, while presenting invoices that had no purchase order numbers.
“Shortly thereafter, the ANC in Tshwane announced that it would bring a motion of no confidence to remove me. Once the ANC, with the assistance of ActionSA, succeeded in removing the DA-led government, one of its first actions was to dust off those same invoices and pay them despite there being no proof that the tankers had actually operated,” he said.
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Claims of sharp increase in tanker expenditure
Brink said the result was a staggering 455% increase in water tanker expenditure in a single financial year.
ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont said the series of claims relating to water tankers in Tshwane spectacularly misrepresent the facts.
“Water tankers are necessary because successive governments, including those of the DA, have failed for years to provide clean, safe drinking water to communities across the city. This fact itself was conveniently absent from the article and the subsequent analysis,” he said.
“The evidence is clear that the city has reduced expenditure from the levels seen during the DA’s administration and has begun a programme of procuring its own water tankers out of concern about what is clearly a water tanker mafia in municipalities. These measures are already yielding savings of R12 million a month,” he said.
ActionSA rejects allegations and defends spending
Beaumont said ActionSA remains concerned by allegations that water tanker contracts awarded by DA administrations may have benefited politically connected individuals.
“The claim that R777 million has been expended on water tankers is equally and demonstrably false. The article failed to capture that R179 million paid in the 2024-25 financial year related to unpaid invoices incurred in the previous financial year under Brink’s mayoralty,” he said.
Beaumont said it had become laughable that Brink’s mayoral campaign has essentially become an exercise in finger-pointing at matters that are a consequence of his own failures and those of his party.
“These arise from his term as mayor, alongside the accumulation of R6 billion in Eskom debt, a R1 billion liability to municipal workers and more,” he said.
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