South Africa’s water mafia has a new target

The water mafia in South Africa is increasingly targeting wastewater works and local sewage systems to secure extended contracts with municipalities. 

South Africa has been plagued by a so-called ‘water tanker mafia’ since parts of the country have experienced water shortages. 

This mafia looks to extend or gain contracts to supply affected areas with water after it deliberately sabotages infrastructure to disrupt normal distribution systems. 

However, water scientist Professor Anthony Turton said this mafia is no longer just looking to win contracts to supply water tankers but is trying to embed itself in other parts of the water system. 

“From my perspective, this problem is getting bigger and bigger by the day. It is not only about drinking water anymore,” Turton told Newzroom Afrika. 

“It is also about the wastewater system. I am aware of deliberate attempts to sabotage wastewater systems in order to land contracts to pump sewage out of commercial buildings.” 

South Africa’s wastewater infrastructure is deteriorating rapidly and is on the brink of collapse, with 46% of the country’s water regarded as unsafe for human consumption. 

The country produces around 7 billion litres of wastewater per day. If this is not treated properly, large amounts of untreated wastewater have to be expelled into South Africa’s river systems. 

These systems feed into the catchment areas for South Africa’s largest water boards, which then process the water before distributing it to municipalities. 

If large amounts of wastewater are expelled into these catchment areas, the amount of bacteria greatly rises and increasingly reaches the end user. 

As a result, there have been numerous outbreaks of cholera and E. coli in parts of South Africa, from Hammanskraal in Gauteng to Durban. 

Wastewater treatment is particularly important in South Africa, a water-scarce country. Climate specialist Professor David Walwyn said it relies heavily on reticulation to meet growing demand. 

“We are rapidly approaching a point at which the total rainfall in South Africa is insufficient to meet demand,” Walwyn said. 

“If everyone were to have adequate access to the resources, there would not be enough resources to meet the current demand.”

This will make South Africa increasingly reliant on proper water treatment and its release into freshwater sources for future use in the water system. 

Turton said the mafia will be looking to exploit this looming crisis as they have done with water shortages in parts of the country. 

“Where it tends to happen is in areas where known previous attempts at corruption have occurred. There seems to be a link and a syndicated operation,” he said. 

Over the past decade, the proportion of unsafe drinking water has skyrocketed from only 5% of water supply in 2014 to 46% in 2024. 

If this trend continues, South Africa may have close to no safe drinking water in the next ten years.

To fix South Africa’s water infrastructure and expand water systems to meet future demand, the country needs to spend R1 trillion, Turton said. 

Due to its poor financial health, the government cannot afford this, forcing it to turn to private sector funders. 

“If you look at the amount of capital needed to fix what is broken, there is no way the taxpayer can carry that cost,” he explained. 

In 2019, the government released a National Water Plan, which said R900 billion needs to be spent on water supply and storage infrastructure by 2030. Turton said this will have to be revised upwards. 

Johannesburg Water alone needs over R25 billion to fix its infrastructure. This does not include the amount Rand Water would need to maintain and upgrade its infrastructure to supply the city with bulk water. 

The private sector is willing to step in and pump the necessary capital into this sector but has bemoaned inadequate governance structures to ensure the money is not stolen or used outside of water infrastructure. 

Last year, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Department of Water and Sanitation created a Water Partnership Office to facilitate private investment in this sector. 

This office supports municipalities in getting private sector companies to invest in local water infrastructure by ensuring their projects are investable.