Water tanker mafia will deal ANC support a big blow, warns Radebe

ANC veteran and current KwaZulu-Natal convener Jeff Radebe has conceded that the  government is not seen to be acting decisively against water tanker mafia and this could result in the party losing respect from communities ahead of local government elections.

Delivering the closing address of a two-day party provincial lekgotla in Durban, Radebe said that water tanker corruption is very serious and people are being killed.

“Comrades, I am sure most of you know how many officials have been killed in eThekwini because of water-related issues. This is very serious and witnesses have spoken about this in the Madlanga Commission and in the Ad Hoc Committee so we must be uncompromising against crime and corruption, irrespective of who is involved, otherwise people will lose confidence in us,” said Radebe.

He said that he was sympathetic to the people of Johannesburg who have been protesting against water outages.

The former ANC head of policy, also appealed to the party's deployees to fix local government and ensure a decisive victory for the party in the coming local government elections.

“Comrades, fixing local government means we must fix ourselves first. There were times when our province was the biggest ANC (province) in the country in terms of support, so we must work hard to reclaim that position,” said Radebe.

He also announced that president Cyril Ramaphosa would be coming to the province to deliver the keynote address during the provincial 114th party anniversary celebration. The event will take place at the Overport Cricket Stadium in Durban on March 7.

Radebe urged all 11 regions, particularly eThekwini to mobilise members to attend to show that the party is still alive in the province.

The call for mass mobilisation came after the humiliating attendance for the national party birthday celebration in North West last month. With its strong support for the ANC prior to the 2024 general elections, KwaZulu-Natal was able to influence decisions in the party’s elective conferences and ensured that it had a representation in the top five of the party.

In the last elections, the party was decimated by Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe Party which relegated it to the third place in the provincial legislature.

Cape Times