LETTERS: Looking for 1 200 JoJo tanks

Regarding your article “ILembe Finances Drying Up” (Courier, July 22) I expect that there must be a surplus of black market JoJo tanks in the area. Maybe I can get a good deal.
There are a few points from that article that have me questioning the validity of the claims of IDM. If one sits back for a minute to ponder the logistics of stealing 1 200 large JoJo tanks, it boggles the mind.
I have just purchased a 5 000L JoJo tank for my home, at a cost of R4 540. They claim to have purchased 1500 units, so it’s safe to say their negotiating power at this volume is greater than mine. R6 000/unit must then equate to the next step up in size, which is 10 000L.
A 5 000L tank is 1.8m in diameter, and over 2.2m high. Not the easiest thing in the world to transport. A 10 000L tank is 2.2m in diameter and almost 3.2m high. To add perspective, the bin of a Ford Ranger is 1.5m wide x 1.8m long. Try fitting one of these tanks in it.
If IDM claimed that 67 of the 1 500 tanks were stolen, I would find that believable. 1 200 tanks? At a rate of four gigantic tanks stolen each day, that would take 300 days to complete the theft. No one noticed?
At a claimed cost of R7 200 000 worth of goods stolen, this hasn’t been a high enough value to prompt an investigation? Where do you store 1 200 stolen huge plastic tanks?
I had thought about sending you a photoshopped picture with this letter of a shady looking guy standing in front of a small house with 1 200 JoJo tanks stacked in the background. Then I thought about how much time it would take simply to copy the image of a JoJo tank and paste it 1 200 times onto the picture!
The issue seems clear. The 1 500 tanks were never purchased for the people. Three hundred were. Someone clever has pocketed the missing R7 200 000.
I would love to be proven wrong. Please request from IDM the quotation, purchase order, and delivery slips for these 1 500 JoJo tanks. If they can show these and back up their claim and prove me wrong, I will gladly donate a 2 200L JoJo tank to the location of their choosing in ILembe.
JEFF PEXA
Ballito