PIKITUP, the City of Johannesburg’s waste management entity, recently managed to facilitate the arrest of two suspects who were charged with theft after stealing four skip bins.
Following the arrest of a second suspect, 10 more skip bins were discovered in his yard. The 14 skip bins that have been found are worth over R200 000.
A Pikitup employee managed to stop the theft of these skip bins in the Johannesburg Central Business district after stopping a truck loading the said skip bins.
The employee inquired as to why the truck was loading Pikitup’s skip bins since only trucks belonging to Pikitup are permitted to load the skips bins. According to the employee, the driver of the truck informed him he was given permission by Pikitup to collect the skip bins for disposal purposes.
The letter of authority the truck driver produced was written in a fake Pikitup letterhead and the contact details used in the letter were not that of the waste management company. The fake letter also stated an employee of Pikitup authorised the disposal of the skip bins. However, they were found to have used Pikitup employees’ details fraudulently.
MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Clr Nico de Jager said: “I welcome the arrests and thank the Pikitup employee for safeguarding company property. Ultimately, this is the property of all who live in Johannesburg, and we all need to ensure it does not end up in the wrong hands. The City will continue to work towards ensuring the safekeeping of our infrastructure in order to deliver quality services to our residents.
“I urge residents to assist Piktup and the City at large by reporting any suspicious activities to the City’s Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 002 587. Residents are also encouraged to use the Anti-Dumping WhatsApp Hotline to report illegal dumpers. Residents are advised to take clear photos of illegal dumping as well as the number plate of the vehicle then send these pictures, together with the date, time and location of the illegal dumping, to 082 779 1361.”
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
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