Cable thefts cause ward councillor to tighten security
Cllr. David Foley said when it is load-shedding thieves see an opportunity to start stealing the electricity cables.
Thieves allegedly dug up a piece of a power supply cable which is about 6 to 10 m, just behind the Pineslopes on Witkoppen Road on Sunday, July 23 in Lonehill and the surrounding areas leaving residents without power.
When we asked Ward 94 councillor David Foley if this is an ongoing problem, he said thieves usually strike during power cuts. “Things like this do happen especially with load-shedding, you know switching off Eskom material all the time, things go wrong, many power substations get vandalised.
It has happened along Lonehill Boulevard twice, initially, they tried but then ran away even though the damage was already done. The same day, Eskom fixed it.
“The other one was closer to the Lonehill Shopping Centre, the little shopping block there, They were impacted for a couple of days because of cable thefts. I remember it was on June 16, a public holiday and into that weekend, Eskom came through to fix it and they really do their best.”
He said they have security measures in place to safeguard the area. He also credits the recent pilot of load limiting in Lonehill, which keeps lights on during load-shedding.
“I love it because Eskom does not switch you off completely. And through their smart meter boxes, they are able to see how much electricity you consume and if it is too much, they warn you. It is going quite nicely for us at the moment.”
Foley added that even though it took only Eskom to repair the electricity supply cable for only a few hours, he spoke to the line manager of Pineslopes Shopping Centre to help in securing the area.
“They agreed to secure that spot more because the thrives cut through the fence and then start digging the cables. I really praise Eskom for their support in making sure that Lonehill, Beverly, Fourways, etc. get their power back in emergency situations.”
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