07-08-2014: Mayor recovers R107 million from City’s investigations
The Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Councillor Mpho Parks Tau today announced that 22 arrests have been made relating to 109 cases of corruption, collusion and fraud and tempering with the City’s systems that resulted in R200 million losses made on the City’s revenue collections.
Two of the arrested people were City Power employees, two were employees of the City of Johannesburg, and the remainder external contractors and general members of the public.
Investigations have so far revealed that at least 30 Large Power Users (LPUs) in the City are possibly involved in corruption and defrauding the City.
The City’s investigations that started in 2013, have seen the City recover at least R107 million of an estimated R200 million loss reported a month ago.
“We originally had 48 cases, and in the past two weeks we discovered an additional 61 cases. In the next two weeks we expect to make 10 more arrests,” said Mayor Tau.
The Mayor reassured that, the balance of the losses have already been accounted for in the City’s balance sheet, and will not impact residents’ or business accounts.
According to Mayor Tau, stringent security measures are being taken to address criminal activities in the City’s power sub-stations.
To address vandalism and criminal activities, the City is in the process of installing integrated and biometric security systems to manage and monitor access into power substations. Pylons vibration monitoring systems to detect vandalism are also being installed at substations which are currently being monitored 24/7.
“Our mandate is to ensure effective and efficient service delivery in the City, and we will not tolerate crime or any form of criminal activities or disruptions and or tempering with the City’s systems,” said the Mayor.
He added, “The City will continue to report and work very closely with the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Pravin Gordhan and Gauteng Premier David Makhura, who have been very hands on in supporting the City in this initiative and other related programmes that the City is working on.”
Tau noted that customers who may experience any blackouts should not consider such as load shedding, as there has been no load shedding in the City and the necessary measures have been taken to prevent load shedding.
“The City has been a victim of deplorable acts, which have resulted in unplanned outages that have been experienced by some customers.”
According to the Mayor, an average of 32% of all outages experienced each month are as a result of theft and vandalism, 16% caused by damage by third parties, and 12% are related to stolen cables and illegal connections.
“It is clear that we are not dealing with load shedding issues. We are dealing with power outages caused by criminal activities,” said Mayor Tau.
“We encourage customers to report any power outages and or suspicious activities on any power systems as soon as possible in order for the City to respond more speedily.”
“We have been able to make some of these arrests as a result of anonymous leads given by some community members, and we are grateful for the contributions that community members have made in these investigations,” said the Mayor Tau.
Community members can report their anonymous tips-offs on illegal connections, cable theft vandalism and tempering with the City’s systems to 0800 002 587. Incidents of vandalism or cable theft can also be reported to (011) 490 7911 / 7900 / 7553.
ENDS
For more information contact:
Gabu Tugwana
Director: Group Communications
Office of the Executive Mayor
Tel: + 27 (0) 11 407 7322
Mobile: + 27 (0) 82 495 5673
Email: GabuT@joburg.org.za
