The City’s power utility has over the past years been experiencing a concerning increase in electricity-related criminal activities, including illegal connections, theft and vandalism of electricity equipment – which frequently plunge homes and businesses into darkness.
However, the metro said it is determined to crack down on the spate of electricity cable theft and warned electricity thieves it is ramping up efforts to catch them.
Residents describe the attack on the infrastructure as a crisis that receives little attention from authorities and accused officials of months of inaction and often ignores residents’ complaints and advice on how to stop the scourge.
For the past years, residents in large parts of Boksburg have been forced to put up with regular power cuts for hours or days because of incidents of vandalism and cable theft at the utility’s substations.
Charlene Day, a resident of Lilianton in Witfield, said she filed several formal complaints about cable theft and illegal connections in her area, but officials haven’t even bothered to respond to her emails, while the problems continue unabated in the area.
In recent incidents, cable thieves hit the substation on the corner of Lorant and Main Reef roads in Lilianton at least three times within a month – resulting in massive power cuts in many parts of Boksburg.
During the latest attack on the same substation on December 10, thugs dug a hole through the brick wall to gain access to the facility before setting it alight and causing serious damages to the power equipment. It’s believed they were gunning for the copper cable.
Day said this cable theft not only inconveniences households and costs the City millions of rands, but it also cripples the dozens of businesses in the industrial section in Lilianton during a time when the country is already struggling because of the pandemic.
Vandalism and theft of infrastructure increases
Ward 33 councillor Ashley Hoods also expressed concern at the increase in incidents in his constituency and across the City.
Hoods said the recent incidents are evidence that points to sabotage. He called on council, residents, EMPD, SAPS, neighbourhood watches and CPFs to join hands with the metro to stamp out the scourge.
“I’m very upset that this has been happening regularly for a long time now. Additional efforts are needed,” said Hoods.
“In one of the latest incidents in my area, cable thieves hit three different spots located a few kilometres apart on the same night and left communities powerless for hours.
“I understand that some of the known hot spots, such as the substation in Lilianton, are equipped with early detection warning systems, but the question is: How effective are these installed devices? Because, in one of the recent cable theft incidents, I was told the security system was not activated and didn’t warn anybody that there was a break-in.
“I think we should also look at the market for copper cables because I believe while there is still a market for copper cable, we will struggle to eradicate this cable theft problem.
“I think the City should look at harsher measures that will see the thugs arrested and prosecuted. Also, the places that buy the cables are not helping the situation because they are creating the market.
“We want to see more action by our law enforcement agencies and frequent raids on the suspected businesses buying these stolen cables. These are among the things I intend to take to council for consideration.”
Metro appeals to residents to report criminal activity
Meanwhile, the metro admitted it’s been grappling with an increase in vandalism and theft of energy infrastructure, saying Boksburg is among the most affected areas where brazen thieves repeatedly target the electricity network.
Metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini pointed out the battle to stop these electricity-related criminal activities is getting attention and requires concerted efforts from the municipality to law enforcement agencies and community members.
“We are aware of the increasing cable thefts in the City. The situation is receiving attention and will require a lot of hard work from our side and a lot of resources to make sure we protect our electricity network,” said Dlamini.
“There are additional security measures the City is planning to put in place to deal with the problem, but the details cannot be made public, as that could jeopardise the main aim.
“We have established a strong working relationship with law enforcement agencies, including private security companies who have shown they are also affected by the vandalism of the City’s infrastructure.
“It’s also common knowledge that these stolen equipment are sold to scrap metal dealers. We had several busts where it was found there was a link to some scrap dealership.
“We patrol some of these businesses and hit some once in a while, but it requires a lot of resources and teamwork to defeat the scourge. We are going to leave no stone unturned to expose these unscrupulous businesses.
“We are also going to carry out a thorough investigating to check whether there is a syndicate operating around this cable network. In the meantime, one has to appeal to members of the community, the security companies patrolling in our areas and the SAPS to be on the lookout for suspicious activities within our infrastructure.
“The perpetrators must be arrested and taken out of society because they don’t have the best interest of the community at heart.”
City of Ekurhuleni’s Energy Department responds
Has the metro noted an increase in illegal electricity-related activities in the City?
Yes, as well as illegal connections because of the failure of the State and Covid-19.
Are there any suspects arrested in connection with the aforementioned incidents?
On average, we arrest about five to seven suspects per month and open criminal cases against them. We had eight court cases just for November.
To what extent have these incidents affected the power utility?
It affects everyone in the area, as theft and vandalism cause major outages.
The metro recently announced it was using all available resources to intensify its efforts to address the ongoing theft and vandalism. Has this had tangible positive results in the battle against electricity-related crimes?
Every month, we make more and more arrests and have all our EMPD and private security resources focused on these issues.
Some areas have been prone to cable thefts, which often saw metres of cables stolen. When will the metro consider implementing alternative measures that may assist in preventing theft and vandalism of its infrastructure?
We have already put in early warning systems and it resulted in many shoot-outs between EMPD, SAPS and copper cable thieves.
We understand that the metro conducts removal of illegal connections in informal settlements and execute electricity cut-offs at properties of non-paying customers, inclusive of businesses in the City. Is the metro planning to conduct more frequent patrols and impose steep fines on those who connect to the power grid illegally?
Yes, the City removes illegal connections in the informal settlement. The recent ones were done on the following dates:
• December 1: Benoni CCC at Mayfield informal settlement, 13th Road and 350 illegal connections removed.
• December 4: Benoni CCC at Babsfontein Zenzele informal settlement and 500 illegal connections removed.
• December 5: Benoni CCC at Mayfield Ext 9 informal settlement and 300 illegal connections removed.
Cut-offs are done by the finance department for non-payment, and the energy department deals with meter tampering and bypassed meters.
Over 10 000 houses were audited, 5 700 fines were issued, over 250 businesses were audited and 125 fines were issued.
On average, how many operations do the metro conduct per week or month?
On average, there are four meter audits operations done weekly, depending on the availability of EMPD to escort the teams during the operations.
Residents blame all these power issues on what they call the municipality’s ‘failure’ to frequently monitor the known hot spots of illegally connected cables. Considering the growing illegal connections in the City, is the metro battling to keep up with this widespread problem?
There are over 155 informal settlements known to the metro, which on average has over 1 000 illegal connections, which sums up to over 100 000 illegal connections. Over 15 000 shacks were electrified in the informal settlements on metro land and privately owned lands to fight these illegal connections.
The City is committed to minimising the illegal connections where possible to electrify or supply electricity to the communities of the City.
Residents pointed out that even after illegal cables had been removed in the hot spots, there is a lack of monitoring – even though power thieves had been following similar patterns to reconnect their cables, either reconnecting immediately after officials had left or at nightfall on the same day. Is the metro not aware of the patterns followed by power thieves to reconnect the cables?
Illegal connections are the main cause of most power interruptions in several areas. The lack of manpower and safety of personnel is a challenge. Those connecting illegally are normally armed. Guards are unarmed and can’t deal with the situation, mostly after operations.
How is the metro dealing with this issue, including the visible dangerous illegally connected cables crisscrossing main roads?
This has been escalated to EMPD to assist with personnel who will effectively deal with the illegal connections.
When will the metro ramp up efforts to catch the perpetrators in the act, instead of reacting after more damage has been created?
Additional service providers will be appointed to assist in this situation.
There are suspicions that there may be some municipal employees, or people posing as municipal employees, who are colluding with the people involved in these criminal activities. Has the metro conducted any investigation to check whether there is evidence that points to these claims?
Yes, there are cases the energy department and EMPD are investigating, which won’t be discussed at present.
Are all these illegal activities reported to the police for further investigations?
Yes, some cases are reported with the SAPS. Mostly, the judicial system still does not have a clear system to deal with these matters.
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