The "Tanker Mafia"? Yes, we have our own version in the USA...

 

I recently came across an article titled "Tanker mafia causing chaos in South Africa".  Here's an excerpt.

South Africa’s water infrastructure has been steadily deteriorating over the past decade as municipalities have neglected maintenance and have not expanded their supply systems to cope with a growing population. 

This has resulted in a situation where the country has enough water but cannot get it to the end user, as much of it is lost to leakages on the way. 

. . .

While this is mainly due to the lack of maintenance, other factors contribute to this problem. 

Chief among these is vandalism and theft of infrastructure. In particular, electrical cables and equipment are often stolen, resulting in pumping stations being unable to pump water to the end user. 

These are deliberate acts to disrupt the supply of water and increase the need for water tankers in affected areas. 

. . .

“There is a thriving tanker mafia ... that actively sabotages the water infrastructure. They do this to continue and prolong their contracts with the municipalities to provide water tankers across communities that need water,” Turton said.

He added that these tanker suppliers do not source their water from safe, potable sources. Instead, they take unsafe water from dams or rivers as they are paid per tanker.

There's more at the link.

It occurs to me that we have an active "tanker mafia" in the USA as well.  Ours is involved, not with water, but with oil.  You see, railways such as BNSF (controlled by Warren Buffet's investment firm) make billions of dollars by transporting crude oil from fields in Canada and the USA to refineries.  They actively fight any proposal to build pipelines to convey that oil more cheaply and/or efficiently, to the extent of funding lobbyists to block legislation, and paying for activists (e.g. local tribes that refuse to allow pipelines to cross their land) to come together and work to stop such proposals.  There have been unconfirmed rumors that subsidies have even been paid to environmental activists who actively sabotage (i.e. commit crimes against) such construction efforts.  The railway companies are trying to protect their profits.  They don't really give a damn about the needs of the country or its residents.

I'm reminded of that every time I see a train thundering through our town, with dozens of black-painted oil tankers rattling and rocking as they bump their way over our level crossings.  I note, too, that we never know what's in all those tankers.  It's not just fuel - some cargoes can be far more dangerous.  Sometimes, when derailments or collisions have occurred, locals have found that out the hard way (most recently in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, resulting in mass evacuations and massive environmental damage).  Pipelines could eliminate or greatly reduce the tanker transport of such substances . . . but that would cut into the profits of the railroad companies, so they continue their opposition.

It's all about the money, as always.  People and society are secondary, and can be ignored.

Peter