A joint law enforcement team led by the City of Ekurhuleni’s energy department visited the Joe Slovo informal settlement, identified as one of the areas harbouring persistent electricity thieves, who often react with anger to the removal of their illegal electricity connections.
However, to protect the city’s dwindling revenue, the hard-pressed metro deployed an organised team to tackle the rampant electricity theft in the area, on September 4. They managed to remove a total of 3 000 illegal connections, according to metro spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini.
This time the team consisted of members of the energy department, Gauteng Traffic, Anti Cable Theft, EMPD and SAPS public order policing, local detectives and traffic wardens.
No retaliation was reported this time and public order police remain in the area to monitor the situation.
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Legally connected customers in Reiger Park have been grappling with unplanned prolonged power outages believed to be due to network overloading, emanating from illegal connections and cable theft in the adjacent informal settlement.
The metro has, on numerous occasions in the past, removed the illegal connections, but residents would keep rioting in the streets and reconnecting to the power grid.
The city previously explained that electricity infrastructure is designed to handle loads based on known demand, which is legally connected to households and businesses.
Members received a thorough briefing before the operation began.
