DURBAN, Thursday 1 October 2026 — eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba and two senior municipal officials have threatened High Court action against the Democratic Alliance unless it removes an election billboard depicting them alongside the words “water tanker mafia”, escalating a dispute over water provision into a legal confrontation five weeks before the local government elections.
Lawyers acting for Xaba, City Manager Musa Mbhele and Water and Sanitation Executive Director Ednick Msweli demanded that the DA remove the billboard and publicly apologise within 24 hours.
DA eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen said the party would not comply unless ordered to do so by a court.
Billboard puts city leadership at centre of DA campaign
The billboard was unveiled by Hoosen along the N2 and features photographs of Xaba, Mbhele and Msweli.
Its central message reads: “You can stop the water tanker mafia. Vote DA for water in your taps.”
The DA says the campaign is intended to hold the municipality’s leadership politically accountable for persistent water interruptions and eThekwini’s reliance on emergency water provision.
The party has blamed ageing infrastructure, water losses and inadequate maintenance for the city’s water problems.
It has also argued that dependence on emergency tankers creates conditions in which private interests can benefit from continued failures in conventional water provision.
Those are DA political claims and do not establish that the three officials pictured on the billboard belong to, participate in or benefit from a criminal syndicate.
Officials say billboard implies criminal involvement
The officials’ lawyers argue that the wording goes considerably further than ordinary criticism of their management of the water system.
According to the letter of demand, placing their photographs alongside the phrase “water tanker mafia” creates the impression that they are involved in organised criminal activity or a syndicate.
The letter argues that the billboard is defamatory and was designed to influence voters ahead of the November election. IOL
The officials demanded its removal and a public apology within 24 hours, failing which they threatened to approach the High Court.
No court has yet ruled on whether the billboard is defamatory.
DA refuses to remove billboard
Hoosen has rejected the demand.
He said the billboard would remain in place unless a court ordered the party to remove it.
The mayoral candidate said voters were entitled to hold the political and administrative leadership responsible for the municipality’s water problems. EWN
The DA’s original campaign statement said the three officials appeared on the billboard because the party regarded them as accountable for failures to repair and improve the water network.
The party said this accountability had allowed dependence on emergency tankers to continue.
Again, that political argument is distinct from establishing participation by any of the officials in criminal conduct.
Water becomes major eThekwini election issue
The confrontation highlights the growing importance of water provision in the campaign for control of eThekwini.
Persistent outages, ageing infrastructure, leaks and intermittent supply have affected communities across the metro.
The DA says the city experiences about 13,000 active water leaks at any given time and loses an estimated 21 billion litres each month.
The municipality has previously pushed back against claims surrounding its reliance on private water tankers.
It has invested in its own tanker fleet as part of an attempt to reduce outsourcing and has publicly acknowledged concerns around what has been described more broadly as a “water tanker mafia” operating in the municipal sector.
That does not establish any involvement by Xaba, Mbhele or Msweli in such activity.
The immediate question is whether the officials proceed with their threatened High Court application after the DA’s refusal to remove the billboard.
Any court challenge could place one of the central themes of the eThekwini election campaign — responsibility for the city’s water crisis — before the courts weeks before residents vote.
