Cable theft at the St George’s Park reservoir this week has cost the city hundreds of thousands of rand.
On Friday, Nelson Mandela Bay municipality infrastructure boss Khanya Ngqisha said the theft, on Wednesday, had caused damage amounting to about R300,000.
It was discovered by on-site workers who noticed the Programmable Logic Controller at the reservoir’s inlet works was off.
“We have had workers on site for maintenance work. As a result, the reservoir has been empty since June,” Ngqisha said in a statement.
“We suspect that intruders gained access through the reservoir roof, and then climbed through the weir overflow between the reservoir and inlet building.
“We will open a case with the SA Police Service.”
He said the metro would tighten security at the facility to boost the existing measures, which included CCTV cameras.
“Our municipality has spent millions of rand upgrading our facilities to respond to our drought crisis and to be modern.
“These facilities are there to help residents, and vandalism and theft really take us backwards.
“We call on anyone who has information concerning this crime to inform SAPS to bring the criminals to book.”
HeraldLIVE