ANC water boards rake up R833 million in irregular expenditure

Issued by Makashule Gana – DA Team One South Africa Spokesperson on Basic Services
20 Jan 2019 in News

Annual reports tabled in Parliament reveal a financial crisis in South Africa’s water boards, collapsing service delivery and in a tragic case last weekend, of a child losing their life.

Together, the ANC-run water boards have racked up an astounding R833 million in irregular expenditure for 2017/18 and another R49 million was deemed completely fruitless and wasteful.

Water delivery is the most critical service delivery role that government plays – without it, the country cannot function. Yet the ANC has allowed corrupt ANC cadres to hollow out the department and boards that are supposed to deliver this essential resource. At the same time, ANC-run municipalities are simply failing to pay for their water, forcing water boards to cut or reduce their supply to those residents.

Mhlathuze Water, formerly chaired by Dudu Myeni, is the worst offender with R265 million in irregular expenditure and R25 million in fruitless and wasteful spending. The Public Protector is investigating Mhlathuze for blowing R185 million in drought relief funding for KwaZulu-Natal in 2015-16, without having much infrastructure to show for it. The entity was without a permanent board from 2016 until a new selection of members was installed in December last year.

Amatola Water received a damning finding from the Auditor-General, who isn’t sure that the water board can remain a going concern – it posted a R134 million loss for 2017/18. Despite blowing the budget, only 41% of their performance targets were met, explaining the dismal state of the Eastern Cape’s water supply.

Lepelle Northern Water was also flagged for a lack of financial sustainability. Its failure to pay contractors on the R3 billion Giyani Water Project left a hazardous rain-filled ditch into which Nsuku Mhlongo fell and drowned. The project now needs another R420 million to achieve basic functionality, meaning the people of Giyani simply have to continue their decade-long wait for the ANC to deliver on its provinces.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) continues their investigation of Lepelle Northern and will now investigate Umgeni water over allegations of political corruption. The DA calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to revive the previous investigation into Mhlathuze, as well as authorise new probes into the other collapsing water boards.

To allow for the continued corruption and maladministration at these collapsing water boards is a crime against all South Africans. The simple fact is that the ANC will always prioritise cadres looting over the needs of our country.

Waiting around for the ANC to change after decades of maladministration is not going to improve the situation – only the DA will put the needs of all South Africans first and deliver services where they are desperately needed.