Close to R1m worth of electricity infrastructure in Cape Town damaged, in February

The City of Cape Town says it will have to repair close to R1 million’s worth of electricity infrastructure, after it was damaged due to vandalism or illegal connection.

In a statement, the municipality says the most incidents of electricity vandalism and illegal connections that were recorded, in February, occurred in areas such as Hanover Park, Heideveld, Athlone and Manenberg, Atlantis, as well as Woodstock and along Philip Kgosana Drive. Meanwhile, Mitchells Plain recorded the most number of incidents.

Mayco member for energy, Beverley van Reenen, says the money could have been spent on other services.

The City is trying to keep Cape Town lit but vandalism, theft and illegal connections cause a lot of damage and unnecessary power outages. These actions drain our resources from much-needed maintenance and upgrading work and places the City’s capital programme at risk. A million rand could rather have been spent on expanding service delivery, as in many cases, sadly, as soon as the City fixes or replaces vandalised infrastructure, it is vandalised again. There are some shifting trends visible, such as the number of incidents in Area North, and also a move of incidents of theft and vandalism into the more formal metro areas.

Van Reenen called on residents to report any suspicious activities.

‘’We appeal to residents to assist us by reporting any suspicious activities near electricity infrastructure to both the South African Police Service and the City so that we can bring an end to infrastructure theft and vandalism. We often leave streetlights on in some cases to deter vandals and where lights are out due to vandalism, the City fixes it as soon as possible.’’

‘’Sadly, often as soon as lights have been fixed, they are vandalised again. The City does deploy security and monitor hotspot areas where possible, but we rely on our communities to alert us and to help us protect community infrastructure,’’ she added.

 

Done By: Mitchum George