Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Department has put out a reward for anyone with information that will lead to the arrest of suspects who are vandalising or stealing water meters.
This after the department recorded an all-time high record of incidents across Cape Town in the past eight months.
About 3 000 incidents were reported from July 1, 2021 to April 30 this year, an increase of 1 143 stolen meters compared with the previous financial year’s figures over a shorter period, the department said.
Water and Sanitation Mayco member Zahid Badroodien said residents could help the City tackle vandalism and theft of water and sanitation infrastructure.
“The City is offering a reward of up to R5 000 to any resident who reports incidents or information related to the theft and vandalism of water and sanitation infrastructure that lead to a successful arrest or recovery of stolen equipment.
“Stealing a water meter from a property causes major inconvenience for the affected household, as they have no water supply until their meter is replaced. The money spent on replacing the meters could have been used elsewhere,” he said.
The department said it had identified Steenberg, Retreat, Grassy Park, Strand, Athlone, Woodstock, Ottery, Bellville South, Lentegeur, Manenberg and Belgravia as some of the affected areas.
Steenberg Residents Association spokesperson Tony Lawrence said after the announcement of the intervention by the City, the community still had to discuss and assess it to see if it would work.
“We have a civic meeting this coming Thursday. We will then discuss if this is the right intervention, or if there is possibly another intervention residents think of that can be put in place to combat these incidents.”
Another intervention the department has put in place is to install plastic meters, not brass meters.
Badroodien said: “The cost for the City to replace a stolen or damaged 15mm water meter is R3 260.60, while the cost for a stolen or damaged 20mm water meter is R3 744.60.”