Letter: ‘We had to pay for stolen cable ourselves’

William Smith writes by email:

I am writing this with great disappointment. I’ve been a resident of Brakpan for 66 years and proud of it, but after the service I received from Ekurhuleni recently I’m disgusted.

In January, the electricity supply cable from the power box on the pole opposite the house I’m renting was stolen late in the evening or during the early morning by a family (father, mother, two sons and two daughters). You know who you are and you were lucky this time to get away with it.

When we awoke at 03:00 on the Friday to get ready for work, we had no power. What a surprise. The worst part of the cable being taken is that the value is about R50, if you’re lucky.

It put myself and my wife in a situation where we had no power or hot water for five days and had to rely on friends and family to assist, not to mention that we also had our food go rotten.

This is not a pleasant position to be in. I logged a call with the relevant municipal department and was told the matter would be attended to within four to 24 hours.

Well, after numerous follow-up calls from myself on the Saturday, as well as Sunday, we still had no technician on site to attend to our concern.

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This was now three days later.

I had to then take time off work and had just started to resolve the matter but one more stumbling block was in the way.

I was informed that I needed to pay R1 500 and report the theft to the police for a case number to have the cable replaced as it was not Ekurhuleni’s responsibility for the outside cable – it belongs to the owner of the house.

I was knocked off my feet to hear this. Being the gentleman I am, I paid the R1 500 and the fault was escalated.

I was informed the fault would be rectified the same day but due to a storm this was impossible. The cable was replaced the following day by the energy team.

I would, however, like to thank the two kind gentlemen that assisted me and took the time to explain. I don’t want to mention names. If they read this they will know who they are. Thank you very much.

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I hope this gets published for others to be vigilant. It can happen to you one day. Editor’s note: Regarding fee charges on stolen service connection cables, the Brakpan Herald understands that this by-law implementation is not new as council passed the by-law in 2002.

According to City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini, Section 21 of CoE electricity by-laws stipules the following in relation to replacement of damage to service connection:

• 21. Liability for damage to service connection
  (1) The owner of the premises or the consumer shall be liable to make good to the council any damage that may occur to the service connection or any part thereof or to any other council apparatus on the premises, unless such owner or consumer can prove negligence on the part of the council.

The applicable costs structure is on the CoE tariffs and charges 2023/24 document.