According to police, the man went to a shop at the corner of Qartz and Esselen streets about a week ago pretending to be an environmental and health practitioner.
Hillbrow police spokesperson Mduduzi Zondo said the man told the shop owner that they did not meet the requirements of the city and they needed to apply for a certificate and promised them that he can speed up the process if the owner paid him money.
Zondo said the suspect promised to make a certificate for the shop owner. “The owner paid him some but seemingly there was some outstanding amount. The suspect left and came back this week with nothing, but to collect the balance and that is when the owner got suspicious and called the police,” he said.
Zondo said the police responded and went to the shop and found the suspect there, who could not produce a valid identification that he was an environmental health practitioner. The suspect was arrested and detained at Hillbrow Police Station. The 2-year-old suspect was still in custody and was expected to appear at Hillbrow Magistrates’ Court soon.
According to a statement released by the City of Johannesburg, the suspect was targeting food premises, conducts inspections in premises and claims that he was called from Durban to come and work for the City of Johannesburg because of problems and staff shortages the city was experiencing.
The statements stated that the suspect would remove documentation from the shop walls including tax certificates, and would then write a notice to the business owner to apply for Certificate of Acceptability (COA) and/or business license and would provide application forms for it. He afterwards requested payment for the application/s thereafter payment for processing thereof and lastly payment for the certificate, license or permit (the certificate is a duplicate, adjusted, fraudulent document).
The statement also stated that the suspect started in the inner city, where a case was opened with police. He moved to Joubert Park and then to Fordsburg where he was arrested, and released on bail. He was allegedly also operating in the Joburg CBD, Randburg and Sandton. The statement has also urged shop owners who have been approached by the suspect to give the Hillbrow police information for investigation. The public is also warned and advised to know their environmental health practitioners who have been issued with proper identification cards with city’s logo, official’s photo and name, designation, identity number and employee number.
