WaterCAN’s Dr Ferrial Adam said that although the city dismissed the R777 million figure as a myth, its own data remained concerning.
The City of Tshwane’s explanation for its high water tanker expenditure “doesn’t hold water”, says a water expert.
Last week, mayor Nasiphi Moya rejected what she called “a false R777 million water tanker claim” and announced an independent forensic investigation following allegations of irregular spending.
Moya said verified financial records painted a different picture. She added that in the 2023–24 financial year, the city ring-fenced the tanker function for the first time, recording R322.95 million in expenditure.
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‘Creative accounting’ claims
WaterCAN’s Dr Ferrial Adam said that although the city dismissed the R777 million figure as a myth, its own data remained concerning.
She said there was an amount of R156 million in pending cancellations.
“They claim these purchase orders should be excluded – but they’re still on the books. Until those cancellations are formally processed, that money is still committed. Taking it out now is pure window-dressing – a bookkeeping trick to shrink the total on paper,” she said.
Adam said the accruals from 2023–24 were standard accounting practice for invoices already delivered but paid later.
“Whether paid in June or July, the expenditure is real. Removing them to make the current year’s spend look smaller is misleading,” she said.
She added that Tshwane’s comparisons with the previous administration were designed to make its record look better.
“But even after stripping away all its creative accounting, actual spending on tankers remains massive – roughly R400 million, and up to R600 million if you include pending cancellations. That’s hardly the turnaround the city is trying to sell,” Adam said.
Calls for accountability
Adam said that while the figure might not be exactly R777 million, the accounting practices of “slicing off accruals, backdating invoices and relabelling pending orders” did not change the reality.
“Hundreds of millions are still being poured into water tankers instead of permanent water infrastructure. And as for the claim that tanker costs correlate with outages, of course they do. More outages mean more tankers. The real question is why those outages keep happening and why there’s no long-term fix,” she said.
Adam said the city’s response confirmed what residents already knew.
“Money keeps flowing, but water doesn’t,” she said.
DA caucus leader in Tshwane, Cilliers Brink, said the city’s spending on water tankers was out of control.
He said the party had opened a case with the Public Protector last week to request an independent investigation into the city’s tanker expenditure.
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