Brink: Tshwane probing claims that water tank mafia operating in Hammanskraal
Residents there have complained of water infrastructure being deliberately sabotaged in order for the metro to continue hiring water tankers.
JOHANNESBURG - Tshwane executive mayor Cilliers Brink has committed that the city is looking into allegations of a water tanker mafia operating in the cholera-hit area of Hammanskraal.
Cilliers Brink, Tshwane Executive Mayor, is hosting a media briefing on the latest water test results in Hammanskraal.
' EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) May 30, 2023
The Pretoria north town has been the epicentre of the #CholeraOutbreak
Brink is joined by several other municipal officials. TCG pic.twitter.com/IchYYdTWYX
Residents there have complained of water infrastructure being deliberately sabotaged in order for the metro to continue hiring water tankers.
The municipality spends about R400 million a year outsourcing 88 water tankers.
This comes amid a deadly cholera outbreak in the Pretoria North neighbourhood where 24 people have died from the waterborne disease.
READ:
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- Malaika Mahlatsi: Hammanskraal a case study in being failed by government
An average-sized water tanker costs the city up to R3,500 a day to rent.
Brink said that the city had not received concrete evidence of a water tanker mafia.
However, he said that it was clear that there were people benefitting from the city’s water infrastructure challenges.
“If we fix Rooiwal, and if we make sure that water is supplied through our infrastructure, the water tanker business is going to lose a lot of money. In fact, large parts of that business will in fact go out of business and so you can imagine there is a vested interest.”
Cilliers Brink, Tshwane Executive Mayor, said un-authorised water tankers selling water to the people Hammanskraal will face prosecution.
' EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) May 30, 2023
He said the municipality cannot verify where they are getting their water from. TCG pic.twitter.com/slMF1qW9cZ
The disaster operating centre on the cholera outbreak said police had been activated to be on the look-out for unauthorised water tankers selling water in Hammanskraal.
