POLOKWANE – Missing manhole covers are a common sight in the city, often due to thieves having removed them to sell as scrap.
Besides open manholes posing a danger to pedestrians, it also costs the municipality a lot of money to replace.
Municipal spokesperson, Malesela Maubane, said stolen manhole covers were a huge problem.
To resolve this, and try to ensure that the manhole covers were not removed by thieves, the municipality plans to replace them with plastic, low-value metal or cement, he said.
Local scrap metal dealer Simon Martinez said global scrap metal prices were rising sharply, fuelled by a demand from China.
According to another scram metal dealer, who did not wish to be named, manhole covers varied in size and weight and could weigh anything between 20 and 40kg and could be sold for between R1,80 and R2,20 per kg.
He said usually thieves would break manhole covers into pieces, discarding the piece with the municipal stamp on.
They would then sell the manhole pieces mixed with other pieces of scrap metal, and in this way manhole covers were rarely recognised for what they were.
He further said the thieve would usually be a regular scrap metal seller, which was why he or she would not be asked questions about the metal being sold.
