Don’t be shy to verify – Avoid bogus contractors from being granted access to your property
22 November 2023
The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate advises residents to verify City appointed contractors using the City’s communication channels.
Residents are advised they can verify the validity of any contractor should they be approached and that their water meter is eligible for replacement.
The directorate has the following city-wide programmes under way that could result in City officials or City appointed contractors requiring access to residential properties:
- Water Meter Replacement Programme: Water Meters are identified for replacement based on functionality, location and the ageing of meters, to ensure that residents continue to have water meters that provide accurate readings and are easily accessible by City officials.
- Reactive Maintenance Programme: Our teams are deployed and respond to customer complaints such as no water, leak at the water meter and damaged water meter requests, which are attended to within 48 hours.
- Indigent Leaks Repair Programme: A service offered to qualifying indigent residents by repairing private leaks on their properties after the City detects a trend of high water consumption. This is only carried out upon the signed consent of the property owner.
With the Water Meter Replacement project, City-appointed contractors will visit properties and provide owners with an official City of Cape Town letter indicating the City's intention to replace their water meter as part of planned capital maintenance work being done. These letters provide the details of the contractor and have an identifiable unique reference number or service order number linked to the customer's municipal account
Additionally, via the City's Reactive Maintenance Programme, when customers log service requests they will receive a reference number which will be attended to by a City internal operational team or contractor team to ensure this emergency complaint is attended to promptly.
Use City channels to verify a contractor
Residents can use the following channels to verify the validity of this letter citing the reference or service order and the intended work that needs to be done:
Contractors will at all times be carrying an employee card which displays the City logo, the name and surname of the contractor as well as a clear photo of themselves.
Avoid sharing fake news
The City is aware of a fake news message circulating in community WhatsApp groups, identifying Jonathan Duncan and Jackson Chinyerere from JPB Civils as imposters/criminal elements. We would like to confirm that this is false, they are employed by JPB Civils which is contracted to the City's Water and Sanitation Directorate. They are involved with the Reactive Maintenance Programme and the Indigent Leaks Repair Programme. We encourage residents to avoid sharing this false information.
'Our Water and Sanitation directorate has invested capital into the Water Meter Replacement Programme and Indigent Leaks Repair Programme for the 2023/2024 financial year, both of these projects are essential in ensuring we provide the best water services to our residents. I urge residents to verify the service order number by using our City channels before allowing anyone onto their property' said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
Any suspicious behaviour must be reported to the City's law enforcement agencies or the City's Fraud Hotline on 0800 1100 77 or to the South African Police Service (SAPS). The SAPS remains the lead authority in crime prevention.
Caption 1: (Left to right) Jonathan Duncan and Jackson Chinyerere from JPB Civils, a Water and Sanitation Directorate-appointed contractor on site completing a reactive maintenance request in Athlone.
Caption 2: The City's Water and Sanitation appointed JPB Civils to provide support to its Reactive Maintenance Programme and the Indigent Leaks Repair Programme. From left: Ahmehied Frances (Water and Sanitation), Jackson Chinyerere and Jonathan Duncan (JPB Civils) and Abduraghmaan Samodien (Water and Sanitation).
Caption 3: (Left to right) Jonathan Duncan and Jackson Chinyerere completing a service request on site in Athlone.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
