Former contractor caught red-handed illegally reconnecting electricity

A former electrical contractor was arrested on Monday for meter tampering and soliciting a bribe from an Erasmuskloof, Pretoria, resident.

The city has opened a case at the Brooklyn police station with one charge of tampering with essential infrastructure and another charge of corruption.

According to the city's MMC for finance Jacqui Uys, the resident was due to get their services reconnected after settling their outstanding bill with the finance team.

“However, to the resident’s surprise, they were instead contacted by a former city contractor who informed them that their meter was not registered on the city’s system and further offered to bypass the city’s legal reconnection processes for a bribe of R8,000,” she said.

Uys said noting this was possibly an illegal activity, the resident immediately informed the city’s energy and electricity department which acted swiftly and brought in Tshwane metro police.

“The suspect proceeded to perform the illegal reconnection and an amount of R1,000 was paid to them. At this point, an arrest was immediately made and the payment booked in as evidence. I also want to state that it is concerning that it would seem that the former contractors are working with a few corrupt city officials who provide them with information about our disconnections,” she said.

She commended the Erasmuskloof resident for doing the right thing by reporting the illegal reconnection offer and bribe to the city.

“The city cannot fight corruption alone and we need active citizenry to report all illegal activities and suspects to the city and law enforcement,” she said.

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