Johannesburg Water strongly condemns any form of violent attacks shown to the Entity’s officials, as well as any acts of vandalism towards the City’s infrastructure which is meant to service the residents and customers of the COJ.
Johannesburg Water has noted with concern the rising number of attacks on the Entity’s staff members while they are on official duty. This includes hijacking of official Johannesburg Water cars, robbing, threatening, and intimidating officials which results in endangering their lives and hampering them from doing their duty. One of these incidents includes a Johannesburg Water jetting truck that was set alight by protesting community members in Lenasia South, who also robbed the officials of their personal belongings, including cellphones and wallets. Jetting trucks are used to unblock sewer lines and stop spillages which results in a safer and healthier environment for the public.
These kinds of act are not only criminal behaviour which places officials’ lives at risk and is grounds for legal consequences this also severely impedes service delivery and slows it down significantly.
These incidents are not uncommon, where City of Johannesburg officials and therefore the entity will not hesitate to engage the law enforcement agencies to take relevant action against wrong doers. Johannesburg Water would like to remind communities that the preservation and protection of the City’s assets, infrastructure and its employees and staff provides much needed value to the residents of the City and therefore we all need to join the campaign to protect our resources by reporting illegal and criminal activities that undermine these resources.
