Three people have been arrested and 3 trucks impounded after they were caught stealing 58 000 litres of water from a fire hydrant in Waterfall, Midrand.
The suspects appeared at Midrand Magistrate’s court on Friday 11th May 2018.
One of the trucks is allegedly owned by Group Five construction company while the other is owned by Labucon.
It is alleged that the truck drivers were sent by their employers to get water from the fire hydrants and use it at the development sites around the Waterfall area. It is disturbing to learn that this criminal activity has been going on every day for more than two years. This allegation was confirmed by one of the Directors from Labucon who was on site after the incident.
The suspects were arrested by the South African Police Service (Saps) and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) working together with the City’s Group Forensic and Investigation Service (GFIS) during Operation #BuyaMthetho.
The arrests comes barely a week after MMC for Finance, Cllr Funzela Ngobeni’s site visit in the area.
During the MMC’s visit last Thursday, it was established that some water metres were not reading despite continuous use of water.
It was also discovered that the well-known property developers connected directly from the fire hydrants.
The City derive revenue from services such as water, sewage, refuse and property rates which were not paid at these establishments. This on its own is an illegal connection and theft of services that could be directed to the poor of the poorest communities in the City. It was also discovered that the development is not registered, meaning the services that are used by tenants and the developers are also illegal.
Further investigations while on site revealed that most water connections in this property development, access water without metering, resulting in loss of revenue to the City because water usage cannot be measured without a meter.
The City, working with all state enforcement agencies, will not leave any stone unturned when dealing with criminal activities within our area of jurisdiction.
I would also like to encourage people to report any theft, fraud and corruption activities through our 24-hour tip-off hotline 0800 002 587 or visit the GFIS offices situated at 48 Ameshoff Street in Braamfontein.
Cllr Herman Mashaba
Executive Mayor
City of Joburg
Media Enquiries:
Lucky Sindane
Director: Strategic Stakeholder Management
Group Forensic and Investigation Service
Cell: 065 865 0696
Email: LuckySi@joburg.org.za
Or
Luyanda Mfeka
Director: Mayoral Communications
Office of the Executive Mayor
Cell: 076 171 5978
Email: luyandam@joburg.org.za
