24 arrested in City crackdown on illegal connections
Six people have been arrested for illegally reconnecting to City services, following their disconnection by the City, and failing to pay their owing municipal accounts.
These persons are said to owe the City R3 332 361.34.
They were apprehended during an operation led by various officials, including Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba, the MMC for Finance Dr Rabelani Dagada, the police and the anti-corruption unit, as well as Johannesburg Metro Police’s Department’s newly appointed Police Chief, Mr. David Tembe including officials from the Department of Home Affairs.
“I took part in an operation to apprehend persons who illegally connected to City services and failed to follow our by-laws,” said Mayor Mashaba.
“The Auditor General has reported that for the 2016-17 financial year non-technical electricity losses amounted to over R1 billion and were due to theft, bypass of meters, illegal de-calibration of meters and damaged meters.
“Citywide, over 2 000 businesses fail pay for electricity, amounting to just under R1 billion. Some of these account holders also illegally connect to our services. This is not something we can allow,” said a digruntled Mashaba.
During the operation, another 18 persons were determined to be undocumented persons. These persons were detained and processed by the Department of Home Affairs. “We remain unwavering in our commitment to bring the rule of law back into the city. As a City, we will continue to run these operations to ensure that offenders face the full might of the law,” concluded Mashaba.
