The City of Johannesburg has spent over R650 million on water tanker services in the past five years, yet it remains silent on the identity of its suppliers. This lack of transparency has raised serious allegations of mismanagement and corruption.
Controversial Contracts and Legal Challenges
In 2024, the city awarded a R263-million contract for water tanker services to Builtpro Construction and Nutinox. However, this contract was declared invalid by the high court in December 2025, leading to further scrutiny of the city’s procurement processes.
Political Concerns and Calls for Accountability
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has raised alarms regarding Johannesburg Water’s practices, suggesting the city is leveraging water outages to justify emergency procurement, potentially benefitting politically connected suppliers. Gauteng’s MEC for Infrastructure Development, Jacob Mamabolo, has responded by urging municipalities to invest in their own tanker fleets to circumvent the problematic reliance on external providers.
Future Commitments and Criticism
Johannesburg Water is set to phase out external tanker suppliers within 12 to 18 months by expanding its fleet and has already acquired 20 new branded tankers, with another 20 expected by June 2026. Despite these plans, concerns persist, especially from the South African Human Rights Commission, which has labeled the situation a “brazen form of corruption” that undermines the city’s financial integrity.
Dr. Henk Boshoff, SAHRC Commissioner, stated, “It is a brazen form of financial mismanagement [and] corruption that has turned a temporary emergency measure into an exploitative business.”