Hannes Kruger, an Elsburg resident, expressed his concerns regarding crime and illegal electricity connections affecting his area.

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He was left without power from July 31 to August 8.

He said he reported the matter on August 1.

Technicians arrived only on August 8 to fix the problem after launching numerous calls to the call centre.

Kruger said his main concern is that there are several people stealing electricity from the municipality by illegally connecting.

“I am frustrated by the way things are going in this community. For the second time this year we were without power for a week,” said Kruger.

“We called the City of Ekurhuleni customer care centre the entire week, with no assistance,” he said.

“Previously when our cable was tampered with and lost power for weeks the Ekurhuleni technicians never showed up. We had to spend R2 500 to get a private electrician to re-connect us.

“I have reported the illegal connections several times.

“We know the people who connect illegally and as soon as they are disconnected, they connect themselves again.

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“Once load-shedding hits they are quick to connect themselves to our cables. They dig underground and connect to steal power.

“Three people jumped over my fence the other day and stole my outside rechargeable lights. The municipality should do something about these illegal connections,” said Kruger.

“On August 10 they reconnected themselves illegally after they were disconnected on Monday. The call centre is a disaster and they keep saying the turnaround time is 48 hours.

“Sometimes refuse is not collected for weeks in this area. I have to ask a friend to pick up our refuse on his way to the landfill sites. Our bins are stolen at a rapid speed. Anything metal disappears without a trace,” he said.

The GCN sent an inquiry on August 10, requesting comment by August 12. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.