DA's Cilliers Brink hits back by accusing ANC of protecting 'water mafia'
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has accused the DA of pulling a stunt after the party unveiled a billboard in Hammanskraal.
The billboard criticises the ANC and ActionSA for spending R777 million on water tankers in Tshwane in one year.
Lesufi said the DA was being “opportunistic”. He said the DA had originally appointed the water tanker companies when it ran the City of Tshwane.
“I mean the water tankers of Tshwane, the current contract of water tankers, who appointed them? It’s a DA. I mean, they were running that city,” he said.
The DA’s billboard in Hammanskraal. Picture: Supplied/DA
Lesufi said the water tankers being used in Gauteng now were owned by the city.
“We have changed that… water tankers are no longer owned by individuals,” he said.
The Gauteng premier said the billboard is a “stunt” being used by the DA because it has “run out of ideas”.
“They’ve said everything that they think is correct when they themselves have created this problem.”
He added that the DA was running Tshwane when Hammanskraal suffered a deadly cholera outbreak in 2023.
The DA’s mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink, however, hit back at Lesufi.
In a statement, he said a plant that would have supplied Hammanskraal with clean drinking water was almost complete when he was mayor of Tshwane.
“When [the DA] were removed, the ANC and ActionSA failed to complete it,” he said.
He accused the current administration of protecting water tanker mafia bosses.
“They did this because protecting water tanker interests was more important than delivering water to residents,” said Brink.
The accusations come after the Madlanga commission previously heard testimony about alleged water tanker mafias operating in the city, with Tshwane officials accused of being involved.
In March, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was authorised to investigate allegations of corruption and irregularities linked to water tanker services in the City of Tshwane.
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