Roodepoort businessman arrested for illegally reconnecting to the grid
The arrest follows after several warnings were issued to customers whose accounts are in arrears.
Following a credit control operation by City of Johannesburg (CoJ) which saw the entity visit customers who are in arrears, a Roodepoort business owner was arrested for illegally reconnecting to the grid.
According to a media release by CoJ, the businessman, who runs a glass-making business, was arrested by Johannesburg Metro Police Department officers at his business premises in Stormill on August 11.
“This was part of a sting operation on businesses that are illegally connected to the City’s services. The establishment owes the City more than R6.4 million for water and electricity services,” said Kgamanyane Maphologela, the director of communications and stakeholder engagement at CoJ.
This follows countless warnings to those who are continually connecting their water and electricity illegally, tempering with or vandalising critical infrastructure that ‘they will face arrests’.
“We are aggressively pursuing those customers who owe us and are not coming forward to settle their growing debt, nor come forward to sign the Acknowledgement of Debt (AOD) and plead their case. We have no choice but to switch off our services to those not coming forward to pay their arrears,” Tebogo Moraka, CoJ’s group chief financial officer said.
The City further urged property owners, who are unable to pay their accounts for various reasons, to come forward to make payment arrangements or sign an AOD.
