Tankers find new hydrants to rape

■ Joe Dreyer

The war continues in Tzaneen as the Democratic Alliance takes their fight against the illegal water tankers to the Public Protector in an effort to force the Greater Tzaneen Municipality to take action and protect the water resources of their town.

The DA in Tzaneen laid a compliant with the Public Protector against the Greater Tzaneen Municipality for their negligence to secure water outlets and their failure to provide water to communities.

The ongoing water shortages exacerbated by loadshedding has increased theft of water by syndicates operating under the guise of delivering a service to the rural communities. It has reached levels beyond the extreme, and theft of water from hydrants in the residential areas especially, occur in broad daylight.

“The DA receives multiple complaints from residents daily who are also intimidated by the syndicates,” explained DA Tzaneen Cau cus Leader, Rene Pohl. “We started our own investigations and encouraged residents to report all suspicious activities, and then re ported our findings to the municipality.”

Pohl has on numerous occasions inter vened personally by stopping next to the water tankers as they are in the process of drawing water from the hydrants. Last week alone she laid four charges of theft against the illegal tanker drivers and had their trucks impounded.

When it became apparent in May last year (2022) that the municipality was not going to act, the DA opened two criminal cases of water theft to date; CAS 195/5/2022 in Letsitele and more recently CAS 376/02/2023 in Tzaneen.

“The municipality’s refusal to act raised serious concerns and it became evident that there was no detailed plan in place nor the political will to combat crime. Instead, the municipality’s negligence created an ideal environment for corruption and criminal acts to take place.”

Pohl further reported that on the 3rd of March this year a water tanker engagement session was called by the municipality where it was admitted that the water crisis was out of control. Police assistance was requested, and two water trucks have since been im-

PR Councillor, André Moss on the project. The idea to implement the project in Tzaneen came after it achieved success in Letsitele under the guidance of the DA’s PR Councillor Chrisma Bredenkamp.

“This was not a political play by any means, it was a situation that needed to be resolved and councillors worked together to make this happen,” Dreyer explained. “The money was paid directly to the manufacturer, Sprayrite, which we sourced and who then manufactured these specialist locking mechanisms for us.”

Dreyer said that each of the locks cost R250 to manufacture and to date, more than 20 of these units were purchased with more units already ordered. In the meantime, Rene Pohl has taken over the project with André Moss and they are currently identifying more hydrants that need to be locked by the GTM’s Water Department and Law Enforcement. There was a list of specific hot spots identified and these hydrants were the first to be If any resident notices a problem with a hydrant in their neighbourhood and needs the municipality to fit a lock, they can contact their ward councillor or the water department to make the necessary arrangements,” Dreyer advised.

In conclusion Bulletin asked Councillor Dreyer whether the locking mechanisms had brought about any significant, noticeable change to the behaviour of the water tankers. According to her, the tankers have moved onto new hydrants as the locks were fitted, but the solution should not be seen as a permanent one.

“The hot spots we identified are no longer hot spots. The tankers moved to other hydrants which is causing havoc now again. We had a meeting with all stakeholders to find a way to deal with this problem we are facing. Mopani District Municipality and Greater Tzaneen Municipality need to come up with a permanent solution to supply water to the villages which don’t have piped water. That is the only way this will ever stop.”