The City might consider criminal charges after three big developments in Fourways were fined following illegal connection of water which led to the City losing R9 million in revenue.
This follows after the City of Johannesburg embarked on a Buya Mthetho operation in the area on 16 January led by the director Lufuno Mashau and the chief operations officer for the City, Floyd Brink accompanied by Joburg Water and the Metro police.
During the operation, the first development visited was discovered to not have been approved by the City making it impossible for the developer to apply for services. The water was cut off and a compliance notice was issued.
“Our system still shows the previous owner. The water has been connected illegally and the City could not bill them for the usage of water resulting to loss of revenue,” said Mashau.
The second development was a complete residential complex with hundreds of newly constructed units. Mashau said the developer could be fined R13 000 per unit for the illegal connection of water.
The third property was another residential complex which had allegedly been connected to the City’s services illegally since 2015.
It was discovered that the 300-unit complex did not have an occupation certificate which meant that residents were living on the property illegally.
“This means the property was not correctly evaluated by the City without an occupation certificate. The water meter was not installed by Joburg Water and the City will recover revenue lost throughout the years. The City has processes, if a developer is struggling with applications, they can escalate the matter to management. Failure to get necessary documents does not give rights to connect illegally,” said Mashau.
A 14-days’ notice was issued for the property owners to comply.
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