Annette Fourie, a Mogale City ward councilllor warned the community that any vandalism or defacing of municipal property is a criminal offence.
This followed the various traffic signs, street names, electrical substations and now also trees having been defaced or damaged.
“It may be a joke to the culprits, but not to the taxpayers as someone needs to pay for cleaning and replacing such infrastructure.
“The taxpayers are burdened with these totally unnecessary costs that do not benefit anyone.”
Fourie said malicious damage constitutes a criminal act in terms of South African law.
“The last few weeks we have seen the removal of manhole covers from water and sanitation infrastructures in Silverfields and Breaunanda. This creates a dangerous situation on our sidewalks.”
Fourie said these actions can lead to someone being injured seriously or even worse, getting killed in an open drain.
“Please think before you remove covers like these for whatever reason.”
She said damaged street names could cause problems, for example in real emergencies emergency services will be unable get to their destination in time as they have to search for street names.
