According to the agency, the suspect was apprehended during a blitz of scrap yards around Joburg on 20 March.
The suspect could not account or produce a receipt for the stolen assets, the agency’s spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers said.
The stolen, Joburg Water and Telkom manhole covers would cost R60 000 to replace.
“These crimes impede economic growth as a single manhole cover costs R1 100 to repair or replace,” said the agency’s managing director Skhumbuzo Macozoma.
“Criminals who steal or vandalise city property also threaten the safety of road users which in the extreme may even result in fatalities.”
The agency has created an Infrastructure Protection Unit to ensure more effective responses to vandalism and theft by building closer relationships with the police, metro police and other security organisations.
However, it continued appealing to the public to report all acts of vandalism and theft by contacting the City of Johannesburg’s call centre on 086 056 2874 or reporting these criminal activities to the police.
Further, the agency urged scrap yard owners not to purchase municipal property but rather report incidents to the police when approached with these
items.
