A Randhart resident brought it to the RECORD’s attention that the protective casing of a power box in the Randhart area was left uncovered and dug up.
The power box was found by the resident next to Beril Avenue on January 16.
According to the resident, this work was done to this power box during the outage that affected the area on January 16 and was subsequently left open.
His major concern was that the box being left in this state was an invitation to would-be criminals to attempt more cable theft due to the now exposed cables.
According to the resident, he spoke to the manager responsible for the restoration of electricity faults who indicated the matter would be dealt with by January 18, before officially reporting the matter.
Found in a state
The RECORD contacted the City of Ekurhuleni regarding the incident. According to Nahlanhla Cebekhulu, divisional head of communication and media relations for the City of Ekurhuleni, officials attended to an area outage that affected the Randhart area on January 16.
The power was restored and the operations section was made aware of the state of the protective box in question.
According to Cebekhulu, the protective structure was found in the state it was in and was not due to any work or action by city officials.
She explained that a contractor was in the area assisting with trenching for the repairs to a medium-voltage cable that was the cause of the outage in the area but not working on the box.
“The operations section was made aware of the state of the protective structure and arranged for security patrol and for relevant persons to do the reinstatement of the box on January 19,” said Cebekhulu.
“The low-voltage supply to the premises from this protective structure was on. The area was patrolled by our appointed security provided, as this was an act of vandalism.
“Theft and vandalism is indeed a huge problem. The City would like to thank the concerned residents for following up on what was identified as a possible cable theft.”
