MONDEOR – While City Power’s quick response to a report of an act of vandalism by criminals at a Mondeor substation was welcomed, measures taken to protect the property have proven inefficient.
“City Power substation vandalised at no 21 on the corner of Boswell Avenue and Ormonde Drive, Mondeor,” the Mondeor SAPS Sector two crime forum posted on Facebook.
A substation at the corner of Boswell Avenue was vandalised on January 12 and it wasn’t the first time. Criminals have been targeting substations in the South, breaking the locks and chain placed on the gate by City Power, removing overhead cables and other copper material.
At least three City Power vehicles were at the scene where the cables were stolen, together with Ward 54 Cllr Sergio Dos Santos, who had received a report on the crime via Facebook from a resident. Dos Santos revealed that the substations in Mondeor have been vandalised at least two or three times since last year.
City Power responded to the report by Cllr Dos Santos on the same day a query was logged and replaced the stolen material, putting new locks on the substation door and gate.
For the most part, these criminal acts of vandalism have gone without consequence as City Power often restores all missing parts just to have them stolen again repeatedly. The criminals in most cases are never apprehended, leaving them free to come back to cause damage.
Dos Santos proposed that if there were better security measures taken by City Power, the City would be spared from having to spend money to fix the recurring problem.
“Chances are there was a lock when the substation was vandalised. If you look at most substations, they have two locks on the gate and on the door of a substation. Better security, proper fencing, sensors/security lights put on substations that can alert City Power whenever there’s interference would help,” suggested Cllr Dos Santos.
He concluded by saying that another security option that could be implemented by City Power was to erect steel fencing and barbed wire.
