Eden Park residents forced to return stolen paving bricks

A former police officer is one of the two people arrested on Heritage Day for allegedly stripping paving bricks from Ekurhuleni municipality infrastructure and selling them at R1.50 each.

Eden Park residents who had already bought the bricks and used them for paving at their homes had to remove them and hand them over to the authorities.

Ekurhuleni metropolitan police department (EMPD) spokesperson Kelebogile Thepa said officers from the community liaison unit arrested the two men, aged 23 and 54, on Thursday after an investigation into the illegal removal and sale of the bricks.

She said authorities found more than 10 Eden Park properties with municipal paving bricks allegedly removed from public infrastructure.

The investigation began after two community members allegedly caught a man removing paving bricks from Datsun Park and alerted authorities.

“Residents who bought the bricks confirmed the purchases and told officers they had been informed that the material came from a second-hand building material warehouse or dumping site. Some residents had already used the bricks to pave their properties,” said Thepa.

“The investigation then led officers to a second suspect, who was identified as an alleged accomplice and a former police officer. He was traced and allegedly found in possession of municipal paving bricks.”

Thepa said the two suspects were arrested and face charges of tampering with essential infrastructure, possession of suspected stolen property and theft of municipal property.

They were detained at Eden Park police station and are expected to appear in the magistrate’s court.

The EMPD commended residents who assisted in exposing the alleged theft and urged communities to report the theft, vandalism or illegal sale of municipal infrastructure.

The department said community co-operation was important in protecting public assets and ensuring municipal infrastructure remained available to residents.