By Thapelo Molefe
Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya has hit back at former mayor Cilliers Brink over the city’s controversial R777 million water tanker expenditure, accusing him of blaming her administration for payments largely linked to his tenure.
During a mayoral debate hosted by the SABC in Pretoria on Monday, Moya said most of the more than R600 million paid for water tanker services was linked to Brink’s time in office.
Brink, the Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral candidate, accused Moya’s administration of paying questionable invoices for water that was never delivered.
“Cilliers Brink is not telling the truth. I don’t know why he feels so under pressure to lie,” Moya said.
She said the R777 million figure represented the total value of purchase orders recorded by the city, rather than the amount actually paid.
“That was the amount of purchase orders, and a majority of that amount that was paid, which was just over R600 million, it was attributed to his term of office,” she said.
“If he didn’t know what was happening under his leadership, they must not come afterwards and try to attribute that to us.”
In June 2024, the DA-led administration said it had cancelled a water tanker tender over alleged procurement irregularities and refused to pay operators who demanded payment without valid purchase orders. Brink has since accused Moya’s administration of settling invoices his government had refused to pay.
When the R777 million figure became public in October 2025, Moya said a system extract included about R156 million in cancelled, duplicated or unprocessed transactions, meaning it reflected procurement activity rather than actual expenditure.
She said the city recorded R322.95 million in expenditure during the 2023/24 financial year, including R179.9 million in unpaid invoices that were processed and paid in 2025.
Verified payments for 2024/25 totalled R621 million, including the outstanding invoices, she said. Excluding the R179.9 million, expenditure for the financial year amounted to R441.1 million.
Moya recalled a strike by water tanker operators outside Tshwane House, saying the payment dispute had emerged while Brink was mayor.
“There was a day where there was a strike in front of Tshwane House, where we were all locked in, in Tshwane House, that even his MMC for utilities had to leave through the back door in Tshwane House, because there was a strike where the water tanker people wanted to be paid,” she said.
Brink rejected her explanation, saying the issue was whether the city had paid for services that were never delivered.
“The issue is not the validity or the legality of the tender. It’s the payment of invoices, the payment of suspect invoices of water that was never delivered,” he said.
He maintained that his administration had refused to pay invoices without the required purchase orders.
“We said under my leadership, we will not just pay anything without purchase orders,” Brink said.
“What happened the moment she became mayor, brought the ANC tenderpreneurs, cadres and comrades in, they paid all of those invoices.”
Brink said municipal manager Johann Mettler had referred the matter to the Special Investigating Unit for investigation.
The debate also focused on Tshwane’s water losses, which Brink said had increased from 32% during his tenure to between 41% and 42% under Moya.
“How did water losses in the two years since I was removed as mayor shoot up from 32% to 42%? Did informal settlements suddenly spring up?” he asked.
He argued that the R777 million expenditure benefited formal areas and did not include informal settlements.
ANC mayoral candidate Aaron Maluleka said the absence of bulk water meters in informal settlements made it difficult to account for water consumption.
Moya defended her administration’s response to water shortages, saying the city had bought its own tankers, refurbished existing vehicles and used municipal drivers to reduce reliance on private operators.
She said the city spent R2.9 million on emergency water tankers between July and September.
The municipality had also improved water delivery in areas that had relied on tankers for years, she said.
In Ikageng, 19 tankers that had delivered water seven days a week for eight years were withdrawn after the city recovered a reservoir that had been hijacked.
Moya said water was now flowing in Ikageng and cited interventions in Mahube Valley Extension 3, Soshanguve, Mabopane and Winterveld.
She also accused Brink of taking credit for savings made during his tenure while failing to account for losses caused by theft and vandalism during a three-month strike. The city had assessed the problems with the tanker system and was working to strengthen its own water-delivery capacity, she said.
Moya challenged Brink to account for his record, questioning what he had achieved during his 18 months as mayor.
“What did he achieve other than to say, ‘I almost did’,” she said.
Brink defended his tenure, citing the Townlands housing development, his handling of a municipal strike, a freeze on salary increases and the appointment of what he described as competent people.
He also questioned Moya’s decision to retain deputy mayor Eugene Modise following allegations involving a security contract linked to a company called Triotic.
Moya defended the municipality’s handling of the matter, saying it had been investigated and referred to the council, which had made a decision.
She maintained that her administration had followed the required procedures in dealing with the water tanker expenditure.
“We must separate our feelings from due process. Due process was followed and that’s where I’m going to end,” she said.
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