Help protect electricity infrastructure, urges CoCT

The City of Cape Town is calling on residents to help them with the fight against electricity infrastructure theft, damage and vandalism.

In the last quarter of 2023, 353 incidents of vandalism,theft and illegal connections damage were recorded, with the majority of incidents occurring in the southern districts.

COURTESY: Mitchum George

Area South recorded 271 incidents (77%) from October to December 2023.The Mitchells Plain district remains one of the hardest hit districts with 137 (39%) incidents alone. Area East recorded 70 incidents, Area North recorded 12 incidents.

‘’This district not only includes areas within Mitchells Plain but areas outside of the region such as Lotus River, Grassy Park and Philippi. All these areas are hotspots for vandalism and illegal connections. Not only does vandalism to infrastructure cost the City millions to fix, but it impacts on repair turnaround times as damaged infrastructure often takes time to replace and repair,’’ said Beverely van Reenen, Mayco Member for Energy.

The MMC said the damaged infrastructure across the metro of 353 incidents, it will set back the City by approximately R5,7 million to repair and replace

‘’While we are seeing much lower incidents in Eastern and Northern regions, vandalism in Area South and Mitchells Plain in particular remains a challenge. A large majority of these incidents are taking place under the cover of darkness and during load-shedding,' said Beverley Van Reenen, MMC for for Energy.

She raised concerns about the continued increase of vandalism and illegal connections

‘’Over the last five years we have seen an exponential growth in the number of incidents in the metro. The sheer number of incidents as well as the many reoccurring incidents has had a major impact on turnaround times and on staff capacity to restore power or to fix the affected street lighting.’’

The City Energy teams, including the Energy Law Enforcement and Technical Unit (ELETU) teams, have increased efforts to protect infrastructure in communities.

‘’While we have seen success in some hotspot areas, many other regions such Mitchells Plain have seen more incidents taking place. We are once again calling on the community to be our eyes and ears and to report to the City and SAPS,’’ said van Reenen,

‘’As a result of our illegal connection disconnection operations, areas such as Mfuleni and Philippi have seen fewer cases of prolonged outages and tripping. Our zero tolerance towards illegal activity is clear and we will continue to protect all communities, residents and infrastructure,’’ she added.

 

Done by: Mitchum George