ALBERTON – An entire neighbourhood surrounding Piet Retief Street and Fifth Avenue, Alberton North, felt 89 volts of shock when they touched their taps or bath water on Saturday January 4.
On Thursday night thieves stole electricity cables, although they did not manage to get away with all the cables they intended to steal.
One cable was left hanging over Piet Retief Street when a truck drove through the cable. Not realising it, the driver of the truck carried on driving and the lamp pole fell over. It was completely pulled out of the ground.
On Friday municipal contractors came to fix the electricity problem, but they discovered that the thieves had returned on Saturday to steal all the cables linked between two street lamps. Many residents’ microwave ovens and television sets were blown while several people received electric shocks.
One of the residents ran out and noticed that the thief was still in the tree he had climbed to reach the cables. A few residents went to investigate and after a security company member arrived, the thief jumped down and ran through numerous properties to escape.
The tree was marked with white paint to indicate that it was the tree to be climbed. In the mature and leafy tree it would have been impossible to see him.
Residents are up in arms because of the theft but they are also complaining about the municipal call centre: “They never answer the phone and when you manage to get through, you are sent from pillar to post and nobody is ever helpful,” said one resident.
The resident also made it clear that the street lamp was not working, but after the cables were cut, it was burning brightly.
Councillor Bruna Haipel told the resident she would call out a contractor immediately to fix the situation and the fallen street lamp.
