[PLEASE SEE BOTTOM OF STORY FOR UPDATE]

Last night, two people were caught red-handed trying to fill tankers of water to drive down to the drought-stricken Western Cape.

And they were dedicated to the cause.

While you might assume they were somewhere close to the province, they were, in fact, getting water from a source in Muldersdrift, a “picturesque rural area situated 27 km north-west of the CBD between Johannesburg and the Magaliesberg mountain range”.

Thanks to local ANC ward councillor Molefi Sedibo, who told News24 that he just knew “something was not right” when he spotted the double tanker at the water point in the Muldersdrift CBD, the two were arrested:

Sedibo said the water point was there to serve the poor in the area who do not have access to running water. He said that having been a councillor for 10 years, he was familiar with the timetable followed by the trucks that usually fill their tanks at the water point and knew which service providers delivered the water.

“It was around 17:00 and normally those trucks have already finished work,” he explained.

He noticed that they had even brought the specialised equipment needed to connect to the system to get the water into the tanker.

“They got a fright when I started asking: ‘Who gave you permission? Who are you?'” Sedibo recounted.

“I said: ‘The truck will not move until you verify this’.”

Lipudi then explained that, according to witnesses, it’s not the first time the water thieves have been there.

This comes as the City of Cape Town collectively takes on the challenge of living with level 6B water restrictions today, which will further limit water consumption to 50 litres per person per day, in the hopes of avoiding “Day Zero”.

Cue weekend rain dance party. On repeat.

UPDATE: We received an email from Crossroads, the logistics services organisation seen in the image above. Here is their official statement:

Crossroads has been the unwitting victim of an alleged scam as it sought to be a good Samaritan in the Western Cape water crisis and warns others against similar scams during this difficult period for millions of people.

Crossroads is a logistics services organisation that operates a large fleet of vehicles in several sub-Sahara Africa countries with depots in many locations, including Cape Town.

“As a commercial business using water in Cape Town we felt we needed to do something positive toward helping in this time of crisis,” says Hennie van Wyk, COO of Crossroads. “We decided to have our commercial cleaning supplier commercially sterilise one of our tankers, fill it with water in Gauteng, and transport it to our facility in Cape Town where we have already initiated other water conserving activities.”

However, Crossroads personnel were duped by a fraudulent supplier for the water. Crossroads initially contacted employees of the local fire department who advised them to source water via the Internet, which the company did. Crossroads employees contacted a bulk water supplier that quoted for the volume the company sought and issued an invoice, which was duly paid by Crossroads.

Upon arrival at the agreed pickup point for the water the Crossroads vehicle was re-routed by the bulk water supplier personnel to a different location in Muldersdrift. But as soon as the tanker was filled at the second location a Mogale City councillor, who had allegedly waited nearby during the entire filling operation, attempted to apprehend all people on site.

“Our driver and assistant naturally remained where they were but the bulk water supplier employees immediately fled the scene. Our people were detained but, upon us producing the legitimate receipt for what we thought was a perfectly legal transaction, authorities were understanding of their roles and nobody has been arrested,” says van Wyk. “It’s devastating that criminals will take advantage of us when we are trying to do the right thing.”

Crossroads personnel have since been in contact with a Department of Water Affairs spokesperson who advised that water suppliers must produce a valid licence issued by the Department of Water Affairs or, if the supplier is a local municipality, that proof of authorisation from the same local municipality must be provided.

“We have agreed through our attorney to be a state witness to help the state prosecute these alleged criminals,” says van Wyk. ”It is unfortunate that we have had our fingers burned in this way but we will endeavour to ease the burden on the people of Cape Town.”

[source:news24]