Damaging theft of water meter

LAST week in Victoria Drive, the water meter at our factory was stolen – late on Thursday afternoon.

The municipality was called within the hour, but they only managed to get there after dark and left again as they could not see what was going on.

By Friday afternoon they still had not shown up.

With all due respect, however, my calls were always answered swiftly and I was assured that someone would come out and attend to the problem. The delay obviously shows that I am not the only complainant when it comes to such matters.

The hooligan who stole the water meter was obviously only interested in the few rand he would get from the scrap dealer.

The amount of water wasted, which by now must have reduced the level of the Paul Sauer Dam by at least 10%, would never dawn in the mind of this thoughtless being. Neither could he care that the bulk of our staff would have to go home for the day and lose out on income due to us being unable to work without water.

The costs are still mounting as we look at all the other implications that this thief has caused. The sad part is that in a case like this, it is human nature to get frustrated and to generalise.

Only when calming down, does one have to admit that not everybody is like that and that there are good people out there, trying to earn a living and working hard to better their lives.

One such example is a young employee of ours, who after a few weeks of working for us, was discovered to be very bright indeed. He wrote his matric a few years earlier and finished in the top 100 in the Free State. He always wanted to study biology but could not afford to fulfil his dream.

I am pleased to report that with the help of a few good friends at NMMU, as well as our company, a laptop and necessary books and financial aid were arranged.

He enrolled at the NMMU in January and is an outstanding success, getting results above the 70% mark.

For our student at the opposite side of the thief described earlier, it is a clear indication of what can be achieved with a bit of determination, hard work, the right attitude and self-respect.

B Rupp, Port Elizabeth