A former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor and his brother could be criminally charged for allegedly tampering with municipal infrastructure and the purported illegal use and transportation of water.
Siya “Knight” Mali, speaking at a business during an inspection carried out by municipal officials, said he was just as shocked by the illegal water connection as those who had discovered it.
The operation to clamp down on illegal water use in Sidwell had led to officials shutting down two premises after they discovered an unregistered meat processing plant as well as several employees believed to be in SA illegally.
Following inspections at the operations, the owners, Mali and his brother, Mbu, could face several charges.
Municipal officials have, meanwhile, planned to launch further investigations into these and other businesses the brothers operate across the city.
The special operation, led by the city’s water meter installation teams, was conducted on Friday after a month-long investigation into an anonymous tip-off about possible illegal water usage at a water bottling facility in Sutton Road.
According to metro officials, the tip-off prompted continuous monitoring of the premises, spanning a few weeks, until they had gathered sufficient evidence to launch an undercover operation to verify their evidence.
While he did not elaborate on the technicalities of the undercover sting, Shannon Barkes, manager of operations and technical support at the municipal meter installations department, said they had collaborated with the Metro Police to conduct their investigation.
He said they had visited the Sutton Road premises on Thursday last week for an initial inspection and notified the business owner of a larger follow-up operation planned for Friday.
“We found clear evidence of tampering at the water meter connected to the water line feeding the building.
“Some water still ran through the meter, like the toilets, but the bulk of the water feeding into the building came from a pipe that diverted from the main line just before the meter.
“We also found several overnight changes inside the premises.
“Since our initial visit, some pipes were rerouted and various pieces of equipment used in the water bottling operations were removed from site.”
Inside the warehouse, several pallets of bottled water stood ready for delivery to spaza shops.
In the rear of the building, 15 tanks were installed, each with a capacity of 5,000l.
Next to the tanks was a collection of filters and pumps which, according to Mali, performed the reverse osmosis process that turned municipal and borehole water into purified drinking water.
“I seldom use municipal water as I buy borehole water from people in Malabar and Uitenhage Farms to purify for my bottled water enterprise,” Mali said.
“I only switch to municipal water in emergencies, when my water reserves are low and I have high demand from my clients.
“I am not refuting the municipality’s claims that the water connection is illegal, I can see it’s not right.
“But I do not own this building, I only rent it.
“Perhaps the owners know something.”
He said he had been operating the water business from that property for about two years.
In addition to the bottled water, the tanks in the back are used to store the byproduct of the drinking water, which he then sells to people to fill up their water tanks and pools.
Confronted about the legalities of buying water from other people’s boreholes, Mali said he was unaware it was not permitted.
Asked then about the changes made to the plumbing between Thursday and Friday, Mali said they had no impact on the meter.
During their operations, municipal officials learnt about a second property a few blocks away in Sidwell Road, also operated by Mali, where ice was reportedly being manufactured, and a decision was made to conduct an inspection there too.
Employees refused to open the premises, prompting officials to use a grinder to cut open the locks to gain access to the warehouse.
Inside, they found several large chest freezers.
Some contained packets with blocks of ice while others held a variety of processed and other meat products.
On the opposite side of the building, behind some wood partitions, they found several machines turning pieces of meat offcuts into a pink paste which was then pumped into sausage casings before being packaged and frozen.
The officials were also surprised to find office space had been converted into living quarters which included several beds.
They also found a small wooden shack built inside the main warehouse space, also converted into a bedroom.
Mali arrived at the property minutes later and, on questioning from officials about the operations at the premises, claimed he had applied for permits to operate the meat processing facility and was awaiting approval.
Metro Police members also questioned the employees, and several were foreign nationals but allegedly could not produce travel documents when asked.
Barkes said several other municipal departments would be brought in to conduct further investigations into Mali’s operations.
He said the water meters would be used to find out who owned the buildings, while building inspectors would be brought on board to check what the buildings were registered for.
Meanwhile, public health had to do inspections on the water bottling and meat processing facilities, while immigration needed to investigate those who allegedly could not produce travel documents.
“We will also be checking if the business operators are conducting business at any other premises across the city and will do similar inspections at those addresses,” Barkes said.
In the meantime, he intended to report charges of damage to municipal infrastructure, illegal bypassing of water meters and transportation of water without a permit.
The Herald
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