New mafia spreading across South Africa

The water mafia has spread to the North West, with criminal syndicates targeting the province’s reservoirs, pumping stations, and electrical infrastructure to disrupt supply of the precious resource. 

This sabotage is typically done to acquire or prolong contracts to supply areas with water through tankers or to conduct maintenance on the damaged infrastructure. 

The mafia has so far been most prevalent in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, with areas hit by prolonged water shortages and billions in payments made to companies to supply water to affected communities. 

Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, centred on Mahikeng, mayor Khumalo Molefe explained to Newzroom Afrika that criminal syndicates are exarcebating existing infrastructure challenges. 

Molefe was speaking after reports that 12 men accosted security at a nearby reservoir before tying them up so they could steal cabling from the pumphouse. 

This has led to wards throughout the municipality experiencing water shortages and a loss of pressure as the pumps could not operate. 

“We are a semi-arid district with little rainfall. An incident like this means we are down on our knees,” Molefe said. 

“We are severely financially affected by these acts of vandalism and sabotage conducted with impunity, which are not isolated incidents.” 

“I can say it without doubt that, in this district, we are up against a syndicate that is well-equipped, well-armed, and well-funded.” 

Molefe said the syndicate included municipal officials and politicians, who have struck deals with businessmen to help them win contracts and tenders following the sabotage. 

Numerous cases of vandalism and sabotage have been reported to the police, with little action taken to hold criminals to account or protect key infrastructure. 

“It is rife, and we have to spend millions repairing and replacing infrastructure. It is not sustainable for us to go on like this,” Molefe said. 

Molefe explained that these syndicates typically focus on stealing electrical infrastructure, such as cabling, to disrupt service delivery. 

“You will find behind the scenes that there are businessmen who fund some of the unemployed youth to ransack and destroy our infrastructure to secure procurement opportunities,” Molefe said. 

“In some cases, they also fund protest action to put us under pressure to rush procurement processes and choose particular companies. It is a water mafia that we are up against, basically.”

New targets

The water mafia’s expansion into North West reflects its strong growth in recent years, with it expanding its targets to include wastewater facilities in other parts of the country. 

This mafia first emerged in KwaZulu-Natal in 2024 through the supply of water tankers at inflated prices during sporadic outages in the province. 

As water shortages have become increasingly common in other parts of the country, the mafia has expanded its operations. 

It has grown to such an extent that it has gained the attention of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who told the National Water and Sanitation Indaba earlier this year that criminal syndicates have infiltrated parts of South Africa’s water supply system. 

As it grew, the mafia has become increasingly sophisticated and brazen in recent months, leveraging widespread corruption in government. 

A report from the New Lines Institute explained that these mafias have begun targeting national-scale projects aimed at improving water infrastructure. 

These projects are notoriously vulnerable to corruption and fraud due to their scale, with previous attempts at improving infrastructure at a national scale being plagued by corruption. 

For example, South Africa’s War on Leaks programme, launched in 2015, resulted in the government spending around R3 billion on water infrastructure. An investigation into the programme found that 20% of the expenditure was irregular.

Apart from corruption within these projects, the failure to improve water infrastructure results in increased disruptions, which are then leveraged by the mafia for opportunities to acquire tenders and contracts. 

Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation Isaac Seithlolo explained that ‘water tankering’ has become an extremely lucrative business in recent years. 

Seithlolo pointed to how municipal officials and politicians have been involved in shutting off water valves to create artificial demand for water tankers, which are then supplied at inflated prices. 

In some cases, individuals steal parts that could be used to repair broken infrastructure to extend contracts for water tankers. 

Criminal syndicates also target electrical cables and equipment to ensure that pumping stations cannot function for extended periods of time. Gauteng alone has spent over R2 billion on private tanker contracts in the past five years.