City of Cape Town says it spent almost R4 million to replace stolen water meters

 PHOTO: City of Cape Town

The City of Cape Town says it has spent around R3.9 million to replace stolen water meters in the metro. The City recorded more than 2,200 incidents of water meter theft across the city between July 2022 and May 2023.

Officials said the Ottery, Kensington, Lentegeur and Glenhaven were in the top 10 areas affected by the theft of water meters.

Water and Sanitation mayoral committee member Zahid Badroodien said the city was no longer installing brass water meters and was only installing plastic ones, due to the scrap value of the brass water meters. He also condemned the theft of meters as it costs the city as well as the residents.

“We ask our residents to please be vigilant and to report these incidents so that it can be investigated to clamp down on this reckless, inconsiderate behaviour that has knock-on effects on all of our residents. They have no water supply until their meters are replaced and when these incidents do occur, we do our absolute best to try and replace these reported stolen meters in the shortest timeframe possible,” said Badroodien.

Done By: Esona Mfazwe