“We suspect there might be some people on the inside that assisted them to illegally connect. If there is any staff found guilty of this, they will be dealt with in our internal disciplinary processes. They might be dismissed.”
Stuurman said the west of Pretoria was plagued with illegal connections, adding: “Last year we removed 700 illegal connections at Gomora informal settlement.
“Illegal connections remain a problem in the City of Tshwane and we want to continue undertaking these types of operations so that we can address this extensively.”
Meanwhile, 16 small and medium businesses and a government department that collectively owed the municipality R50m in water bills were issued final notices on Thursday to pay their accounts. The businesses included hair salons, tyre repair and vehicle repair garages.
“These businesses use a lot of water and do not pay for the services. Some of the businesses were in arrears on their accounts for more than six months.”
Stuurman said the municipality planned to improve its monitoring services to catch defaulters early and improve the metro’s financial position.
TimesLIVE
Business buildings face R10m fines as Tshwane probes illegal connection
Private school, hair salon, hardware store, scrapyard illegally connected to grid
Image: City of Tshwane
The City of Tshwane is investigating how a business building in the west of Pretoria illegally connected directly to the municipality’s power substation and got to supply electricity to two other buildings.
The two buildings illegally supplied with electricity face fines of R10m each.
Tshwane mayoral spokesperson Sipho Stuurman said the business building had illegally connected houses, a private school, hair salon, hardware store and a scrapyard to the grid.
The illegally connected buildings were disconnected from the grid on Thursday during the municipality’s aggressive revenue collection campaign.
“We are investigating how the businesses were able to connect illegally. This will help in understanding what we need to do to prevent it happening again,” Stuurman said.
City employees implicated in the illegal connections might lose their jobs, he said.
“We suspect there might be some people on the inside that assisted them to illegally connect. If there is any staff found guilty of this, they will be dealt with in our internal disciplinary processes. They might be dismissed.”
Stuurman said the west of Pretoria was plagued with illegal connections, adding: “Last year we removed 700 illegal connections at Gomora informal settlement.
“Illegal connections remain a problem in the City of Tshwane and we want to continue undertaking these types of operations so that we can address this extensively.”
Meanwhile, 16 small and medium businesses and a government department that collectively owed the municipality R50m in water bills were issued final notices on Thursday to pay their accounts. The businesses included hair salons, tyre repair and vehicle repair garages.
“These businesses use a lot of water and do not pay for the services. Some of the businesses were in arrears on their accounts for more than six months.”
Stuurman said the municipality planned to improve its monitoring services to catch defaulters early and improve the metro’s financial position.
TimesLIVE
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