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Gift of the Givers staff with municipal law enforcement officials after they were threatened by "water mafia" in Mthatha on Saturday.
Gift of the Givers/Supplied
- Gift of the Givers Foundation staff received threats while providing water to residents in flood-ravaged Mthatha.
- Police Minister Senzo Mchunu previously condemned the threats, and authorities are providing armed protection for aid workers.
- The humanitarian organisation called for the arrest of those responsible.
Gift of the Givers Foundation founder Imtiaz Sooliman has called for the arrest of the “water mafia” after aid workers were threatened while distributing water to flood-ravaged residents in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
The person who made the threats, he said, was driving a black Toyota Fortuner at the time.
His call came days after Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and the OR Tambo District Municipality condemned the intimidation of the workers.
The municipality has contracts with companies that own water tankers and distribute water to people during outages.
Gift of the Givers has been distributing the water for free ever since the floods hit the Eastern Cape, claiming the lives of at least 92 people, most of them in Mthatha.
Sooliman said information indicated that someone driving a black Toyota Fortuner had made the threats.
“Gift of the Givers appreciates the message of support from the Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, against the water mafia who tried to intimidate Gift of the Givers drivers while delivering life-saving water to the people of Mthatha, who were severely affected by the floods,” he added.
READ | Gift of the Givers ‘water mafia’ intimidation an attack on ubuntu, says Mchunu
“Given the hardship and difficulty of the people and given the fact that [over] 90 people have passed on, the behaviour of the water mafia is totally disgusting. We appreciate the fact that the SAPS acted immediately by sending an armed person in the truck with our drivers, as well as a car following the water tankers.
“The situation has completely calmed down, but we are calling on the community of Mthatha to help us find a black Toyota Fortuner from which the threat was made, and we need that person arrested,” he said
Sooliman added that profiteering from people’s hardship needed to stop:
This is a message to the water mafia: we will take you on wherever you are because Gift of the Givers is not afraid of anyone.
“We have the support of the government, the SAPS, the SANDF, and above all, we have the support of the communities and the municipalities when it comes to assisting people in dire need, as is the case now in Mthatha and the Eastern Cape.
“This kind of heinous behaviour has to stop. We hope that the government will now extend the support it is giving to Gift of the Givers to all areas where the water mafia are capitalising. All those types of tenders have to stop in the interest of saving money and in the interest of the people of our country,” he said.
READ | ‘Mafia’ tells Gift of the Givers to stop providing free water to Mthatha flood victims
On Wednesday, Mchunu said the police would not tolerate any attempt to intimidate or obstruct those working tirelessly to save lives and bring relief to the people.
“Gift of the Givers has consistently been a source of hope and dignity to South Africans in their hour of need. Any attack on them is an attack on the very principle of ubuntu,” the minister said.
