A DA billboard in KwaZulu-Natal bearing the words “stop the water tanker mafia”, with the faces of eThekwini’s top three municipal officials displayed across it, has been removed amid legal threats.
While the DA refused to take it down, the billboard company removed it to “protect our business and our landlord’s interests, and maintain a neutral position”.
DA mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen unveiled the billboard on the busy N2 highway on Monday, saying the party wanted to start a conversation about who was responsible for the city’s failure to fix water infrastructure and its reliance on water tankers to supply suburbs with water.
The billboard read: “You can stop the water tanker mafia. Vote DA for water in your taps.” Alongside the words are pictures of eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba, municipal manager Musa Mbhele and technical services director Ednick Msweli.
Hoosen said the water crisis had worsened under the three, with about 13,000 active water leaks at any given time. He said the city loses an estimated 21-billion litres of water a month.
“Clean drinking water is pouring into roads, drains and the ground while families wait beside the road for tankers. This leadership failure has allowed emergency tankers to become a permanent substitute for working infrastructure. It has created an environment in which tanker interests benefit while residents suffer.”
It is blatantly clear that this statement, which is inherently hostile, was created with the intention to influence that election, and designed to directly undermine my clients, the respective positions they currently hold, as well as the eThekwini municipality as a whole
— Hiresen Govender, municipal officials' attorney
But the three municipal officials took umbrage at being linked to the “water tanker mafia”.
Their attorney, Hiresen Govender, on Tuesday sent a letter to the DA and Hoosen demanding they remove what he called the defamatory billboard — plus all social media references — and issue an apology within 24 hours.
In the letter, Govender said the billboard implied his clients were involved in organised criminal activity.
“This statement, which has been publicly published alongside a major motorway in the greater Durban area and on your website, to which innumerable persons will be subjected, is entirely false, unfounded, and defamatory,” he wrote.
“Considering the coming local elections in November, it is blatantly clear that this statement, which is inherently hostile, was created with the intention to influence that election, and designed to directly undermine my clients, the respective positions they currently hold, as well as the eThekwini municipality as a whole.”
Govender said the statement went beyond mere political rhetoric and that, while the DA and Hoosen were entitled to criticise the municipality and its employees, they should do so in a “legally permissible manner” without resorting to defamation.
Govender said his clients would go to the high court to protect their rights and seek damages if their demands were not met.
On Thursday Hoosen was adamant the billboard would stay and said he would see the three in court if necessary.
“The billboard does not allege that these individuals are members of a mafia. Instead of using public resources and official correspondence to fight a billboard, they should get to work fixing the pipes.”
But on Friday the billboard had been removed, and Hoosen said he believed someone in the city was behind what he called censorship.
“We don’t know exactly who instructed [the billboard company] to remove it or how it came down,” he said. “I know there were some complaints to the billboard company, and they [the municipality] have been trying to put people under pressure to get the billboard out. There are intimidatory tactics that the city uses to get their way, and we suspect that is the case here.”
Outdoor advertising company Face First Media denied intimidation or threats.
“We became aware that legal action was being contemplated and that we could potentially be implicated,” the company said. ”We recognise that political matters can be sensitive and contentious. Our role is to operate transparently and responsibly, maintaining trust with our clients, landlords and everyone we work with."
It had therefore taken a “responsible decision to remove the advertising, protect our business and our landlord’s interests, and maintain a neutral position”.
“This was our decision and does not express any political view on the landlord’s behalf.”
The city issued a statement on Tuesday saying it had spent about R345m to buy 318 water tankers and an additional 43 tankers before the end of the year. This was in response to what it called challenges in communities where water infrastructure remained limited.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the DA using this issue in its campaign. What may be questionable is the mentioning of the three individuals instead of going after the main culprit here, the ANC
— Zakhele Ndlovu, political analyst
Xaba said the tankers were an interim measure, with the municipality’s long-term commitment being to ensure that residents have reliable access to water through household taps.
Political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said: “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the DA using this issue in its campaign. What may be questionable is the mentioning of the three individuals instead of going after the main culprit here, the ANC.
“There is a perception out there that some ANC leaders are benefiting from water tankers, as is the case with the sabotaging of the rail infrastructure so that some ANC [members] could benefit from the truck business, which is overwhelming our road infrastructure.
“The DA could accuse the ANC of presiding over a mafia-state kakistocracy, as the Madlanga commission has amply demonstrated.”
Provincial ANC spokesperson Sifiso Sonjica said the party welcomed Xaba’s decision to consider legal action against the DA over the “billboard spreading unsubstantiated claims about him and city officials”.
Xaba is top of the ANC’s list of 106 candidates for proportional representation in the November elections.
“The ANC is also concerned about the amount of disinformation and negative campaigning that borders on breaking the electoral code, including the disinformation code,” Sonjica said. “We are urging all political parties to adhere to these important codes.”
In March, a DA billboard mocking Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi for his hotel shower gaffe during water interruptions — with an AI-generated image of him showering — drew legal threats.
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