Tshwane reduces water tanker budget by 79%
· Citizen
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, has hit back at the DA, saying it was crying at the wrong funeral after DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink announced he would be challenging the premier at his office this week over a lack of action on what he described as Tshwane’s water tanker mafia.
This is hot on the heels of City of Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya’s end-of-term report, reflecting on the progress made under her leadership over the past two years on Monday.
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Tshwane reduced tanker budget to R126.7 million
During the briefing, deputy mayor and MMC for finance Eugene Modise said that from 1 April, 2026, the city began transitioning formal areas towards a municipal-led tanker service and expanded the city’s municipal tanker fleet to 41 vehicles.
“At peak, tanker operations were costing R20.56 million per month. Through tighter management and reduced reliance on outsourced services, this was brought down to R8.34 million per month.
“For 2026-27, the tanker budget has been reduced to R126.7 million, a 79% reduction, while R110 million has been redirected towards municipal tankers, pipe replacement and infrastructure upgrades,” said Modise.
For four consecutive years, Tshwane had operated with unfunded budgets, but the 2025-26 budget was fully funded as was the 2026-27 budget.
“The city owed Eskom R6.66 billion, carried a broader debt burden of more than R13 billion and had only R835 million in cash reserves,” said Modise.
Report highlights fully funded budgets, debt burden reduction and audit qualification
“In 2023-24, R322.95 million in tanker expenditure had been incurred, including R179.9 million in unpaid invoices that were carried forward.
“Between July and mid-October 2024, before we took office, a further R98 million was incurred. By September 2024, the tanker budget had already been exhausted, and an additional R150 million had been requested.”
Moya said: “In the 2024-25 financial year, the number of audit qualification areas declined from six to just two.”
Other successes included the repair of 21 285 streetlights and high-mast lights restored.
MMC for environment and agriculture Obakeng Ramabodu said since October 2025, more than 19 000 tons of illegally dumped waste have been removed across Tshwane.
TMPD conducted crime prevention, bylaw and illegal dumping operations
MMC for community safety Hannes Coetzee said between July 2025 and June 2026, the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) conducted 817 regional and 909 specialised crime-prevention operations, alongside 140 illegal cable-theft operations.
“TMPD also undertook 402 regional bylaw operations, 213 specialised bylaw operations and 236 illegal dumping operations. During 2025-26, officers made 1 748 arrests for driving under the influence.
“Two mobile alcohol evidence centres were introduced, following the qualification of 10 mobile alcohol evidence operators in November 2024.
“Officers identified 35 397 vehicles without displayed licence discs, 8 508 without number plates and 29 345 without licences.
Seven stolen vehicles were recovered through impounding and another 25 through enforcement,” he added.