The supply of water has been penetrated by organised crime. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Democratic South Africa’s biggest failings are rooted in the capture of its institutions, leadership structures and production chains by criminals. We have written extensively on the issue in this editorial space. At a national level in the form of state capture and the mismanagement of parastatals; at a local level in the hijacking of urban buildings and abandoned mines.
Water has been a separate but equally important topic. Our reporting has focused on the incompetence and petty criminality that contribute to the water crises we are perpetually faced with throughout the country. Shoddy, unmaintained infrastructure has not been treated with the urgency or creativity it demands from government structures.
But this week Sheree Bega’s story reveals that water, too, has been penetrated by organised crime. The evidence suggests that water mafias are in play.
Leveraging supply and turning the taps to their benefit. Or as Tracy-Lynn Field, the principal investigator of the South African Water Justice Tracker Project, puts it: “They have embedded themselves in the water value chain, sacrificing access to water, a public good, at the altar of personal economic gain.”
These revelations are disturbing. Water is our most basic human need. And it is a right this country’s Constitution promises to all. It is unconscionable that there are thugs who are affecting and influencing its distribution.
It is imperative that authorities investigate these findings with urgency. The favoured South African hobbies of commissions and inquiries will not suffice. The severity of the issue demands that officials get boots on the ground and swiftly deliver a plan that can be practically implemented to oust any syndicates operating in this space.
But plugging those leaks will only be the beginning.
Malfeasance of all kinds breeds in tepid, weak institutions. It is not coincidental that the same structures that have faltered on service delivery in recent years are now susceptible to organised crime networks. Until the national government does a top-down review of its water infrastructure, both physical and bureaucratic, the door will remain ajar.
As has so often been the case in all aspects of South African life over the last decade, we have civil society to thank for moving the conversation forward. The efforts of people on the ground and private organisations have been immense and it is terrifying to think where we would be without a powerful sense of civic duty.
It is only unfortunate that these are the shoulders on which the burden always falls.