-Cable theft and water mafias deepen Ba-Phalaborwa’s water and electricity crisis.
-DA demands arrests and prosecutions.
-Municipality’s R18 million on private security fails to stop outages.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality (BPM) is deeply concerned that brazen criminality is worsening the ANC-led municipality’s water and electricity collapse, and demands that the criminals be caught, convicted, and that law and order, and reliable service delivery are restored.
Crime and corruption break towns. In Ba-Phalaborwa under the ANC, unchecked crime and government indifference are turning public infrastructure into a criminal opportunity while residents are left with dry taps, power interruptions and failing services.
Despite a petition having been submitted by the DA to the BPM Council regarding the alleged theft of water by water-tanker mafias from fire hydrants in Extension Five, the Council failed to agree to take decisive action. In some instances, these alleged mafias are reportedly armed and intimidate residents and councillors when questioned. It is further alleged that stolen water may, in some instances, be billed back to Mopani District Municipality, the Water Services Authority.
Illegal water connections, including connections made directly into Lepelle Northern Water’s bulk pipelines, run like spaghetti through much of Ba-Phalaborwa’s peri-urban and tribal-settlement areas. Both municipalities are aware of the impact that illegal connections have on water supply to legitimate consumers, yet they have failed to act decisively.
Parts of Ba-Phalaborwa, particularly Phalaborwa town where BPM is responsible for electricity reticulation, are subjected to repeated cable theft. Despite known hotspots, no decisive action has been taken by BPM or the South African Police Service (SAPS). In the vacuum left by official indifference, the business community, through Phalaborwa First, is taking steps to install cameras and clear overgrown areas to help protect the town’s infrastructure.
These criminal activities occur with impunity despite BPM spending close to R18 million per year on contracted private security guarding and alarm services. The municipality cannot spend more than R54 million over three years on a security contract while cable thieves, vandals and illegal connectors continue to cripple critical infrastructure. Residents deserve to know where guards are deployed, which sites are protected, how incidents are monitored, how many arrests have followed, and whether the municipality is receiving value for money.
Shockingly, two SAPS members were reportedly arrested on cable-theft charges but appear to remain at work. A thorough investigation is required to determine whether there is corrupt collusion across organs of government in enabling cable theft, illegal connections and alleged water-mafia activity.
Ba-Phalaborwa now faces a growing infrastructure-security crisis. Every stolen cable and vandalised transformer undermines electricity supply. Every electricity failure threatens water pumps, reservoirs and sanitation systems. Every abused bulk water pipeline and hydrant weakens public control over a scarce resource.
The DA demands decisive action: catch the criminals, convict the syndicates, and clean up Ba-Phalaborwa by restoring law and order, infrastructure protection and reliable service delivery.
The DA urges residents to use the voter registration weekend of 20–21 June 2026 to ensure that they are registered to vote. You must be registered to vote for change.