Three electricians and two team leaders were arrested and charged with fraud and theft, the utility said.
The arrests followed a thorough audit of cable equipment after discrepancies were detected in some of City Power’s inventory.
Each of the stolen cable drums carried 300m of cable.
Investigations were under way to determine whether the employees were linked to organised crime syndicates, said City Power’s managing director Sicelo Xulu.
“More arrests were expected once the investigation unfolded,” he said. “This year we have seen a significant spike in cable theft and corrupt practices, and in some of these incidents our contractors and employees were implicated.”
The utility was working with external entities to tighten up its internal controls in order to enhance operational efficiencies, he said
“This entails tightening up our internal processes to close the loopholes and address existing weaknesses in the system.”
Cable thefts and vandalism of electricity equipment had plunged several areas in Joburg into darkness in recent months and has cost the utility and businesses millions of rand, he added.
Earlier, Executive Mayor Parks Tau said more stringent legislation was required to deal with cable and metal theft, and theft of municipal assets.
“The reality is we must deal with it as a very serious crime because it impacts very seriously on the economy and on the residents… and we’ve said as local government that it’s an issue that requires attention from parliament, so that legislation allows us to deal more with this problem.”
Referring to suspects of cable and metal theft being released shortly after being arrested, Tau said, “If they are released because it is dealt with as a minor crime then we can’t deal effectively with the problem.”
“We are working very closely with the [National Prosecuting Authority], the hawks and the justice department to deal with this, but the reality is we need legislation that deals with it as a treasonable crime.”
A total of 227 people had been arrested for cable theft and the vandalism of electricity equipment since the municipal utility embarked on its anti-corruption drive, Xulu said, adding that 86 percent of those arrested were convicted.
However, he said, more needed to be done to make cable theft a thing of the past.
“City Power cannot win this battle alone without the support of its employees, contractors and communities it serves. We urge and encourage our stakeholders to continue to work with us in order to deal a decisive blow to this scourge of cable theft and corruption.”
