TWENTY cut-down electricity poles in the city cost the municipality about R140 000 to replace earlier this year. This is according to the eThekwini Municipality regarding the continuous cutting down of these poles all around Durban in order to steal cabling and other equipment.
A few months ago, the mayor urged people who witnessed these crimes happening to immediately contact the police, as replacing the infrastructure costs the city millions annually.
“Acts of vandalism, such as electricity and cable theft, cannot be addressed by the municipality and the police alone. We call for vigilance from everyone and people must not look away when they know that their relatives, neighbours and friends are involved in such illicit activities,” said Mayor James Nxumalo.
He said he was shocked to discover that nearly six months after the municipality had replaced 20 vandalised electricity poles along a busy Durban freeway, the same poles had again been sabotaged. Cable theft and damage to infrastructure costs the city about R40 million a year, with the total bill including indirect costs being a whopping R230 million.
Moseley resident, Wayne Williams, in a letter expressed his frustrations over the repeated stealing of cables and damage to the infrastructure. “All the steel light poles along the M7 between Rossburgh testing grounds and the N2 have been cut down and the copper wiring removed. Four concrete poles were then put up at the intersection of the M7 and Wakesleigh Road, which were also smashed at the base and pushed over to get to the copper wire,” he said.
According to Williams, this occurrence has been on going for months and he probed why the police weren’t doing anything about it. “Steel poles in Wakesleigh Road and on Hans Detman Highway, which were only put up a few months ago, are starting to be cut down as well. It must be costing the taxpayer an absolute fortune for all this destruction and theft. Why is the SAPS not being more proactive and monitoring this situation? Surely, at the scale at which this is happening, somebody must know something,” he stated.
The tall street lights are cut at the base of the poles on either side of the stretch of the road and the copper wiring is then removed before the criminals move on to the next pole. Once the pole is down, they are then able to reach the lights and steal them too. Nxumalo said he suspected that the poles were being cut down by an organised crime syndicate.
“The previous street light poles that had been vandalised were made of steel. Our electricity unit then replaced the steel poles with concrete poles and those were again cut. We have a big challenge, all the street poles are now lying down. Security must be beefed up in all strategic areas,” he said.
Another resident who wished to remain anonymous accused the Bellair SAPS of being negligent. “I have been through this intersection every day for about 11 years and I am aware of everything that happens here. I have called the Bellair SAPS on numerous occasions to alert them about the street poles being vandalised and a few other crimes that happen here, but they do nothing,” he said.
However, the Bellair SAPS said they were not aware of this as the municipality and the Metro Police had not made complaints.
Any suspicion of cable theft should be reported to the following numbers: Electricity call centre 080 131 3111, SMS 083 700 0819 or e-mail custocare@elec.durban.gov.za, cable theft hotline is 031 311 9611 and Bellair SAPS is 031 451 2826.
