Damage to infrastructure| Polokwane businessman reported to police for “stealing” electricity

POLOKWANE municipality’s Revenue Protection Unit (RPU) has laid a criminal charge against a businessman formerly contracted with the entity for tampering with electricity infrastructure.

The move follows intensified measures by the municipality against tampering with infrastructure which exacerbates the water and electricity challenges faced by the city.

One of the measures entails RPU utilizing technology and data analytics to monitor and identify meter tampering by both households and businesses.

In his state of the city address on Tuesday, executive mayor, John Mpe, said R9,3 million worth of fines have been levied for the current financial year as per council-approved by-laws.

“The municipality will continue to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to meter tampering and we encourage the community at large to avoid this unethical behaviour,” Mpe said.

Lepelle Northern Water, the bulk water supplier in Limpopo, has also experienced several cases of vandalism to its infrastructure which impacted negatively in the supply of water.

Unscrupulous individuals illegally connect to main pipelines to draw water for selling, thereby damaging the infrastructure. This practice was found to be rife in the Ga-Mothiba area where the main pipeline from Ebenezer plant passes through to supply the city.

A week ago, the municipality conducted an operation to disrupt the illegal activities.