City vehemently condemns vandalism of water supply infrastructure in Bloekombos and Wallacedene

17 February 2023

The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate’s water supply network in the Bloekombos and Wallacedene areas was dealt a severe blow when vandals struck on two consecutive days in the early hours of the morning. These acts of vandalism of critical water supply infrastructure will have dire consequences for the communities if it continues.

The Water and Sanitation Directorate were dealt two severe consecutive blows when its water supply network to the Wallacedene, Bloekombos, De Novo and Kraaifontein areas were struck by callous vandals in the early hours of the morning.

Yesterday, Thursday, 16 February 2023, they vandalised the electricity supply to the pump station and control mechanisms. This morning, Friday, 17 February 2023, they ravaged the telemetry of the water supply network at the Bloekombos and De Novo reservoirs.

The vandalised installations and equipment are critical to the control and operations of the water supply to and from the reservoirs that supply drinking water to these areas. The vandalism directly interferes with management of a sustained water supply in the reticulation network and as such places the entire system under severe risk.

‘These acts of vandalism are very costly to remedy and are very disruptive to the day-to-day operations of the Water and Sanitation Directorate. Usually operational staff can monitor and adjust the flow and supply of water via the technology that was available at these locations, but now they have to physically visit these installations on an hourly basis to make adjustments, which otherwise would have been made remotely. This ties up our manpower unnecessarily as they would have been attending to other service related aspects of our operations. This completely defeats the objective of introducing technology to enhance service delivery.

‘We call on the communities of these areas to play an active part in protecting this critical water supply infrastructure because it is the lifeblood of their communities as it will have direct implications on them every time that it is vandalised. They can do so by reporting the perpetrators of these criminal activities and in so doing eliminate the risks of undue water supply disruptions which could last for days at a time,’ said Councillor Siseko Mbandezi, Acting Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation.

The City sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused while it is attending to the repairs and replacement of the vandalised infrastructure and equipment.

Report theft/vandalism to be eligible for a reward

Residents can provide information to one of the City’s Safety and Security agencies like Law Enforcement and Metro Police to be eligible.

Provide information on the whereabouts of stolen property or a suspected offender, by calling 0800 11 00 77.

If your confidential information leads to an arrest or recovery of stolen property by the City’s Law Enforcement or Metro Police, you can get a reward of up to R5000.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office