Majodina launches anti-corruption forum to fight water mafia, infrastructure crime
Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina says the Water Sector Anti-Corruption Forum will work in partnership with the Special Investigating Unit.
Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina says an anti-corruption forum has been set up to help combat the major threats within South Africa’s water sector, like the water mafia.
Majodina presented her department’s budget vote in Parliament on Monday.
Forum to partner with SIU in crackdown on fraud
She says the Water Sector Anti-Corruption Forum will work in partnership with the Special Investigating Unit.
"We are seeing a lot of progress in terms of arrests as well as recouping some of our funds that were taken during these fraudulent activities. So that anti-corruption forum will also assist communities to report acts of crime.
“We are also building skills and capacity in the sector. We are standing now at 15.8 posts that we have already funded."
Majodina adds that government is accelerating access to water services for underserved communities, many of which are in rural areas.
Over 2 600 settlements without reliable potable water have been identified.
Majodina says the department is implementing rapid, cost-effective, and appropriate interventions such as groundwater development, spring protection, and rainwater harvesting.
She adds that they are also prioritising grant funding and mobilising water boards, the private sector, and civil society, to accelerate implementation.
Government intensifies efforts as water infrastructure sabotage concerns grow
The South African Human Rights Commission raised the alarm over what it calls the sabotage of the country’s water infrastructure in June last year.
It published a policy brief warning the government about criminal groups known as water mafias, which are allegedly behind attacks on key infrastructure.
SAHRC spokesperson Wisani Baloyi said access to clean water is under serious threat.
" The commission is calling for the Office of the President to proclaim and promulgate the remainder of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act 8, that the deliberate support of water services, and infrastructure be considered as a constitutional crime.”
In March this year, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Andy Mothibi, said decisive action would be taken against 270 individuals implicated in corruption in the water sector.
Mothibi says they are working with the Special Investigating Unit.
He says there is a need to close infrastructure leaks and tackle organised crime, including the water tanker mafia.
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