The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the SIU investigation into the R777 million spent on water tankers by the City of Tshwane in the 2024/2025 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 published yesterday, which exposed that companies linked to two senior ANC leaders - most notably ANC Deputy Mayor and MMC for Finance, Eugene Modise - received R31.7 million in water tanker contracts despite not owning a single water tanker.

This ballooning of water tanker expenditure under this ANC-led administration has 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.

The result was a staggering 455% increase in water tanker expenditure in a single financial year.

It is now becoming increasingly clear that Deputy Executive Mayor Eugene Modise acted in his own interests, with the support of senior ANC figures, to keep public funds flowing into the hands of ANC-linked water tanker operators.

The Executive Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya, must act now. The power to appoint and dismiss members of the Mayoral Committee resides in her office, and she should use that power immediately to remove Eugene Modise as MMC for Finance.

If she chooses not to act, she will expose herself as a Mayor in title only - willing to enjoy the benefits of office while presiding over an administration that protects ANC corruption.

The DA will be calling for a debate during the upcoming Ordinary Council Meeting to lay bare the facts surrounding watertankering spending in Tshwane.

Issued by Ald Cilliers Brink - DA Tshwane Mayoral Candidate