The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on law enforcement agencies to urgently investigate reports that there’s a construction mafia in Mpumalanga that has been sabotaging and holding water projects hostage leaving community members with dry taps.
According to media reports, Mpumalanga’s CoGTA MEC, Mandla Msibi, told a delegation from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that infrastructure vandalism and a construction mafia were among the reasons for water shortages across the province.
It has also been reported that private operators of water tankers are allegedly capitalising on the Mpumalanga government’s failure to maintain water infrastructure and taking it further by deliberately sabotaging municipal water supply to boost their businesses. This kind of economic sabotage is violating people’s constitutional rights of access to water and poses a direct threat to Mpumalanga’s economic stability.
The actions of the construction mafia and the private operators of water tankers fit into the category of organised crime which has assumed a national profile, requiring that it be declared a national priority crime in terms of the law. We cannot allow unscrupulous syndicates to hold the country at ransom.
These are serious and damning allegations that must not be ignored and no from treason. The DA calls on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) to urgently investigate these allegations, and the law must take its course should anyone be found guilty of such a heinous crime. They must be named and also be blacklisted from doing business with the government.