I was just paid a visit by two water inspectors (Samuel Bell and his partner) wearing uniforms displaying City of Cape Town badges.
They introduced themselves by informing me that I was under investigation for a vaguely specified charge (“illegal pipework” and “water reticulation”) laid against me by an undisclosed third party and I may be in trouble.
They refused to provide me with any proof of the investigation against me, or to photograph their ID cards. Under threat of more serious action for “interfering in an investigation”,
I provided them with my personal details. They then inspected my meter, and asked me to run a tap so that they could see that the meter is working.
I was quite upset by this episode (“policemen” turning up at your door to investigate charges against you) and provided details of the visit to the City of Cape Town. They have advised me to contact the anti-corruption department.
A theory for the real reason for their visit is that, due to the fact that my rain water tanks have been catering for most of my water needs, my average water consumption is so low that they suspected me of tampering with my water meter.
The fact that they were visibly happier when they saw my meter works supports this.
If council officials start creating false grounds to investigate citizens, turn up at their door in “police” uniform and announce that they are under investigation, this just shows that we are in desperate times, probably a lot more desperate than we are led to believe.
What throws this whole visit into an even worse perspective, is that there is a water leak in the street outside my house that has been reported many times for over a month, but which has yet to be fixed (one bucket goes running down the street every 30 minutes).
The water inspectors knew absolutely nothing about this leak.