Zille attributes Joburg's water woes to organised corruption

The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s Joburg mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, joined the water protest on Xavier Bridge, south of Joburg, to pledge her solidarity with affected residents.

She said the current water crisis is manmade because it is due to corruption.

However, the Water Ministry has called out political parties to find solutions to the water crisis instead of dishing out criticism.

Zille joined the protesters - who are demanding running water in their taps - in song.

She said when the maintenance of water infrastructure should be done, the contract is given to people who either don't know how to do the job or do it badly.

Zille claimed this is part of a sabotage strategy so that when there is a problem, more money can be used to fix it.

“Also, the water tankers are a big racket, it’s the way a lot of people earn a lot of money through the water tankers. And often, I have a strong suspicion that the breakdowns are deliberate to make the water tanker mafia rich.”

On Wednesday, during a media briefing, the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo said people should stop politicising service delivery issues.

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