CAPE TOWN – Deputy President Paul Mashatile says the Water Task Team, which he leads, is working with the police to address the issue of so-called water tanker mafias.
He says it’s also working with the Water and Sanitation Department to determine where mayors and municipal managers can be held accountable for the non-provision of water.
Answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday afternoon, Mashatile said cities must be protected from the impact of water shortages and water shedding.
Mashatile says many municipalities don’t have the capacity to be water service providers, and ideally, this function should be managed directly by the national department.
“But we don’t want to take all these functions away from municipalities because they, obviously, if they work well and generate revenue, it helps them to deal with other municipal functions.”
Besides water losses, he says, the deliberate sabotage of water infrastructure, even from within municipalities, is a major problem.
“Water tankers started as an innocent thing when there are repairs and challenges, the city will then bring water in tankers. But then in a sense it was captured by the criminal element, and they actually deliberately sabotaged.”
In response to a demand from Build One South Africa (BOSA) member of Parliament (MP) Nobuntu Hlazo Webster, Mashatile said he will ensure municipalities issue schedules for communities to be aware of when their water supply is being cut.
