Residents warned against fake City officials

By Celeste Ganga
19 March 2008

The City of Cape Town is concerned about a recent incident where about four men, pretending to be City officials, gained access to a house in Mannenberg saying that they were there to look at a geyser blanket.

“They were wearing clothes similar to those worn by the electricity department’s workers. Now, this has happened in the past, and we are sure it will happen again,” says the City’s Charles Cooper.

Cooper adds that the City is therefore calling on all residents to take extreme caution when allowing people into their homes that claim to be from the City’s electricity or water services, and even from Eskom or Telkom.

“Times are dangerous — do not simply let people in. In the case of City workers, we will most of the time phone before hand and make an appointment; you will know that somebody from the City is coming to see you. You’ll also know if you phone to perhaps complain about an electricity or a water problem,” says Cooper.

He explains that if you didn’t phone the City and someone does pitch up, you should be extremely suspicious. Cooper says that City officials who do arrive will have identity cards with him or her with their picture on it, however he says this should not be taken as the only proof that they work for the City.

“They should have documents with them pertaining to your house. If you phoned in, you will be given a reference number and they should be able to quote that reference number to you,” adds Cooper.

Report any suspicious activity to your local police station.