The South African Human Rights Commission has stated that water tanker mafia damage to water infrastructure should be treated as terrorism in terms of the Protection of the Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Act. The law’s notion of terrorism includes acts of sabotage against essential services, facilities and systems, or their delivery.
“Although severe penalties are necessary, we need to focus on prevention by securing water installations and assets,” says Dr Lester Goldman, CEO of the Water Institute of Southern Africa.
An inside job?
Water tanker mafias are criminal organisations that disrupt water delivery so they can provide water tanker services at an inflated cost to municipalities. They are therefore destroying state property and depriving communities of a constitutional right for personal gain.
While Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo have said that municipalities will “begin deploying technology such as surveillance systems, remote sensors and smart infrastructure”, Goldman questions how systemic change will be achieved.
“How do these mafias even know they will win water delivery tenders once supply is disrupted, unless they are working with corrupt individuals within municipalities?” he says. After all, investment in water tankers can run into the millions, so there must be a level of certainty that they will be awarded a contract.
In this light, installation security needs to be much broader, removing both the opportunity and the incentive from the mafias and their conspirators.
Infrastructure security measures
Because vandalism and theft outside of the water tanker mafias is so prevalent, basic installation and infrastructure security are a must.
The fact that armed response, on-site guards, burglar alarms or similar grassroots measures do not appear to already be in use begs the question: why not?
Many municipalities utilise Supervisor Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems that allow them to monitor system health and control installation operations remotely.
“A simple, cheap light sensor inside an installation could be utilised to let system controllers know when someone has entered without authorisation,” says Goldman, noting that such solutions are so basic and cost-effective, they could be implemented almost immediately.
Systemic security
When it comes to prevention at a systemic level, several suggestions have been put forward.
One is that companies tendering for water tanker services should be audited by an impartial third party. Tenders should also define how tankers will be tracked to ensure they perform the service as required, and how the water volume they deliver is monitored.
However, these approaches only address the quality of the service being delivered. They do nothing to remove the opportunity or incentive to damage infrastructure.
A better suggestion is that municipalities should manage their own fleet of water tankers and not outsource the task to private contractors at all.
“Without the chance of being awarded a tender, there can be no reason for mafias to perform acts of sabotage, and they will have to seek their ill-gotten gains elsewhere,” says Goldman.
Community engagement
In the meantime, says Goldman, communities are suffering and should be eager to be part of the solution. “Community involvement is critical to identifying saboteurs, so educating them on what they can do and how to report incidents safely should be a top priority for the government,” he says.
Furthermore, any measures taken against the water tanker mafias will also serve to prevent common vandalism or theft of water assets.
