PARADISE – An urgent alert from Newcastle SAPS was sent out on June 28 to alert residents of a suspicious man roving around the Paradise area, claiming to be a municipal official.
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The man in question is said to have been wearing blue pants and a brown jacket, and roamed into people’s yards on upper Victoria Street, allegedly checking water meters. Fortunately, the residents in the area aren’t fooled that easily.
Residents promptly alerted SAPS about the suspicious individual. The Advertiser contacted the municipality to confirm whether there had been any programmes in progress of water meter readings in Paradise and other areas in the town.
Director for Revenue, Valuations and Debt Management, Asha Haripersad said: “No, this is not a member of the Newcastle Municipality. The meter readers of the municipality carry out the meter reading function without going into the premises as the meters are situated outside the premises with the exception of complexes.
“The only contract workers carrying out the meter reading function is in Madadeni and oSizweni. Should we have contract workers, and this is in the case of field workers who carry out inspections of households for indigent purposes or hand out notices of civil action due to outstanding debt, these are clearly identifiable by municipal name tags.”
Acting Executive Manager for Legal Services, Qiniso Zwane added: “Matters of criminality are by law administered with the mandated security services. The municipality reports criminal matters to the police. The police would then handle these matters in consultation with the municipality as and when sanctioned by due process. One example is the referral of a former fixed term contract worker in the Electrical Department. The discovery of false misrepresentation came after the process of vetting of qualifications.”
Residents are urged to be vigilant should they come across alleged municipal workers requesting access onto the property.
