Stolen municipal infrastructure paid for by locals

Longstanding power outages caused by vandalism and the theft of electrical infrastructure have Klopper Park residents at their wit’s end.

Residents living along Avondgloed Road were recently without power for eight days while community members residing on Kragbron Road were without power for 15.

According to Ward 92 Clr Kade Guerriero, the reason for the extended outages was caused by damage to mini substation transformers.

Speaking near a transformer which was being replaced on Avondgloed Road on July 18, Guerriero said two mini substations were badly vandalised and needed to be replaced.

“As happy as the community is that the municipality has arrived to do repairs, 23 days is simply too long,” said Guerriero.

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“The problem is that there has been zero communication from the management of the city. Continuous emails, WhatsApps, SMS’s and phone calls are being sent but we have just not had any help.

“Ultimately, I would hate to know what my residents have lost. The inconvenience and impact of the outage with food going off and money being spent to run generators.”

Guerriero said in the Klopperpark there is a large senior citizen population who are also affected by outages.

“We have a lot of people who are not only reliant on medication and oxygen machines but also have young children and babies so the impact has caused I would hate to put a monetary value.”

Guerriero said over the years the City of Ekurhuleni has been approached to secure its electrical infrastructure.

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He said with constant vandalism and theft and the city needing to conduct repairs funds could be better spent elsewhere.

Within the Klopperpark community, residents have spent their money securing mini substations with locks with some even going so far as proposing that the community erect fencing around the stations to secure it further.

Avongloed Road resident Susan Perrault, who’s lived in the area for 30 years, said the problems with the substations became a problem earlier this year.

“You can handle the load-shedding when it is expected but when infrastructure is stolen then there is a bigger issue.”

She said although she has a son who is studying for university and cannot complete projects without power many of the residents in the area are reliant on oxygen machines.

She said the lack of power also contributed to security concerns when the power went out the street lights and community members electric fences stopped working.

To get around the problem, Perrault said her household spent approximately R100 on fuel for a generator each day they did not have power.

Charlene and Brian Oswald, Herf Street residents, who were also without power for days said they lost almost everything in their fridge and freezer because of the outage.

Charlene said although they managed to get some items to family in Croydon it was frustrating and tedious.
She said the family lost approximately R1 500 worth of groceries.

“Regardless of us having a gas stove, which we were using to boil water to bath, it’s inconvenient,” said Charlene.
She said as residents of Klopperpark for 16 years the couple knew this would eventually happen with the amount of traffic and people loitering in the community.

Because of the outage, the family resorted to gas, inverters, a UPS and rechargeable camping lights.

Relying on gas the family spent over R950 on refills for their 10kg gas bottle.

Brian emphasised that CoE needs to secure its infrastructure to prevent similar outages.

Donald Kwatapa, another community member affected by the outage, said he lost all of his purchased meat because of the outage.

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He didn’t have an alternative solution to try and save it.

“The other problem is that the lights don’t work so it’s a security risk when there’s no power.”

To get by Kwatapa had to buy new produce, and a gas bottle so that he could cook and boil water. He said in the eight days he spent an additional R2 000.

CoE’s response:

In response to the resident’s and councillors’ concerns, CoE confirmed that theft and vandalism of its infrastructure caused multiple and extended power outages.

City spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the theft of the mini substation transformer and vandalism of cable infrastructure had caused the outages.

In response to Guerriero’s concerns regarding the lack of communication, Dlamini said communication officials get information from the energy department and communicate to the affected parties.

He said if councillors have an issue it must be directed to the city’s legislature.

“There is a lot of theft and vandalism in Germiston. However, two Klopperpark incidents are new,” said Dlamini.
He said security contractors would investigate the area.

Dlamini said the vandalism and theft tended to occur late at night however patrols from the community deterred criminals.

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“The city, through security contractors, will add Klopperpark as a hotspot for theft and vandalism,” he said.

Highlighting security features to protect the infrastructure Dlamini said locking mechanisms, which secure doors, were installed.

He added that new mini substations come with an additional feature that secures all doors

To prevent further incidents of theft security company will investigate incidents and provide support to city officials.