WATER MAFIA THRIVE ON BROKEN INFRASTRUCTURE? Louis Trichardt has been subjected to a wave of theft & vandalism of municipal water infrastructure for the past 5 years since the local Municipality decided to dispense with what was then a remarkably effective security system (Telemetric) that saw crime drop to practically zero. Rumours abounded that there was a Water Mafia at work ... it was alleged that Municipal employees were collaborating with Contractors ... stealing infrastrucure ... and then simply re-installing the stolen goods and claiming payment for it as brand new!!! These allegations have not been proved ,... but my suspicions were aroused further when I stopped in at the SAPS in town and demanded to see what I assumed would be a veritable PILE OF DOCKETS relating to the millions of rands worth of thefts & vandalism ... WAIT FOR IT: ... NOT ONE SINGLE BLOODY DOCKET HAD EVEN BEEN OPENED!!! Well it doesnt take the collective brains of Stephen Hawking and his scientific cronies to deduce that something was seriously WRONG with this scenario!!! i then discovered that during a previous municipal regime there was indeed a super effective security system that had ensured virtually ZERO THEFT & VANDALISM ... INEXPLICABLY ... the contractor responsible for ensuring that security was so effective Paul Otto did not have his contract renewed by the Municipality ... leaving the gates wide open for a crime wave that has cost the municipality up to R5 Million. When I got involved as AfriForum Chairman I placed SECURITY at the top of every Agenda for EVERY SINGLE meeting Ive had with municipal Officials!!! And every single time promises are made and simply not kept ... that was until my most recent Summit with the Vhembe legal team and ours in Pretoria. At this meeting our AfriForum Action Plan was accepted ... and has now been implemented ... security including pallisade fencing, armed guards, telemetric & camera systems and concrete blockhouses are installed at all our water installations. THESE MEASURES SHOULD NOW ENSURE THAT THE FREE 4 ALL UNRESTRAINED CRIME SPREE IS OVER!!! I then came across this article in this weeks Sunday Times which got me thinking that this resembles the modus operandi and fitted with the rumours we had heard used here in Louis Trichardt ... The Sunday Times reports: ... the existence of a A ‘WATER MAFIA’ who deliberately damage pipelines and pump stations so that they or their cronies can win lucrative water-supply contracts. ... IT IS CLAIMED THE WATER MAFIA IS RESPONSIBLE for Municipalities losing tens of millions of rands a year as a result of what department of co-operative governance & Traditional Affairs spokesman Lennox Mabaso described as the sabotage of municipal water networks. Investigations at the struggling uThukela municipality in Ladysmith revealed that they had lost R140 MILLION in the past 5 years, either through the hiring of water tankers or because of water losses.The investigation resulted in 27 municipal staff members being suspended and facing internal charges of fraud and corruption. Mabaso said the existence of the water mafia was brought to his attention in 2012 when 5 people - 3 of them Municipal Employees - were bust for sabotaging infrastructure. ... i fully intend following up on this and demanding action on past crimes in our district!!!!!
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:36:19 +0000
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