The City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation Department is plagued by vandalism and theft to critical infrastructure and threats to frontline staff. A reward of up to R5000 is being offered to any resident that helps to report any incident or information, related to theft and vandalism of water and sanitation infrastructure, that leads to a successful arrest or recovery of stolen infrastructure.

Over five months from July to November 2021, the City has spent R1,9 million replacing more than 2293 missing or stolen sewer manhole covers in different areas. There has been a steep increase from the usual average of 300 per month to more than 500 sewer drain covers being stolen a month since September 2021.

In addition, 33 sewage pump stations have been vandalised or impacted by theft since the start of last financial year (July 2020). This results in an inability to pump sewage to wastewater treatment works. This results in sewage overflows across the city due to the destruction of pump stations across our metro. In April 2021, it was estimated that these operating costs, including repairs and hiring of mobile equipment to minimise sewer overflows, cost residents approximately R30 million.

The worst case was in February when Site B pump station was vandalised. All operating equipment was stolen, the standby power supply generator badly damaged, and parts  were stolen. The building was also damaged, as well as the fence. An Eskom power supply cable was also stolen. It cost the city R6 million to reconstruct the pump station.  This sewage pump station services about 8 000 households in Site C and a part of Site B in Khayelitsha. Due to the total destruction of this pump station, it resulted in major overflows and blockages in the network.

‘Work is progressing to repair pump stations affected by vandalism or theft, such as Vukuzenzele in Philippi and Carlisle Street in Paarden Eiland, while others, such as Site B, have already been repaired.

‘We are also seeing an increase in the threats and attacks against our frontline staff. There has been an increase in hijackings, armed robberies and stoning of water and sanitation vehicles. Many of these incidents happen when staff are transported during the night shift. Even worse, staff are robbed when attending to pipe bursts and operational tasks such as meter replacement and meter readings.

‘The reward of up to R5 000 underscores the City’s efforts to combat the malicious and uncontrolled destruction our infrastructure is experiencing. Additionally, it will help to encourage residents to be vigilant and to protect public infrastructure. A zero tolerance approach must be adopted if we are serious about tackling this attack head-on. At the end of the day, it is the public’s rates and tariffs that pay for the repair and replacement of infrastructure that is vandalised. Money that could be used to expand the pipe replacement programme or conduct other proactive maintenance work.

‘The City, residents and other stakeholders need to all work together to clamp down on theft and vandalism because these selfish acts by thieves and vandals result in sewer blockages and overflows in the streets of our communities as well as hundreds of litres of clean water being wasted when meters are stolen. Anyone who provides information will have their identity kept confidential,’ said Councillor Zahid Badroodien, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation.

Residents are encouraged to report any of the following: manhole covers being stolen/ removed, dumping in underground infrastructure, water meters being stolen, any threat or attack on our staff, illegal building connections to sewage or stormwater systems, and illegal bypassing of meters and illegal water connections.

‘Stolen, missing or broken sewer drain covers contribute to blockages in the sewer pipeline. When there is no drain cover, illegal dumpers can treat the open sewer as a bin, or the strong Cape Town wind can blow litter and sand in there. Missing covers also pose a health and safety risk to the community in that area, especially children, so residents need to please report it using the City’s official channels so they can be replaced as soon as possible.

‘The City replaces stolen and broken cast-iron manhole covers with ones made of  polymer plastic, where possible, as the material has little to no scrap value. However, this has not proven a sufficient deterrent, as these too are often removed.

‘In addition, normal operations to clear reported sewer blockages are also ongoing,’ said Councillor Badroodien.

Tampering, theft and vandalism of essential electricity infrastructure, including cables supplying power to pump stations, is seen as a priority crime due to the extremely negative impact on the rights of communities, and as per Section 2 of the Criminal Matters Amendment Act (Act 18 0f 2015), imprisonment not exceeding 30 years and fines not exceeding R100 million are possible when found guilty.

All witnessed or potential incidents must be reported immediately to the City’s public emergency call centre:

• 107 from a landline
• 021 480 7700 from a cellphone

Help us protect our city infrastructure by taking a stand against criminals set on damaging infrastructure necessary to ensure effective service delivery and clean, dignified streets across our city.

Source: City Of Cape Town