Cable theft costs Tshwane metro R500k

Power cable theft over the past few months has cost the Tshwane metro hundreds of thousands in repairs, and residents persistent blackouts.

The metro told Pretoria Rekord that between 1 July and 9 September, there were 10 incidents of power cable theft at the Mooikloof power substation alone.

This has cost more than R500 000 in repairs, with more than R300 000 spent in May and June.

ALSO READ: Eskom suffers R2 billion in losses a year due to cable theft and vandalism

Some theft took place inside the Mooikloof station yard, Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo told the publication.

Police confirmed one of the more recent thefts took place at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) office in Wingate Park on 2 September.

Last Friday, residents experienced another unplanned outage after a cable was stolen in Garsfontein Road.

‘Impossible to live a normal life’

Moreletapark resident Jeandre Visagie told Pretoria Rekord seven cases of cable theft took place in the past 30 days.

He said this was a recurring problem, with the first incident reported in 2018.

“Back then we had weekly thefts before a community initiative to hire a private security to patrol the hotspot areas,” Visagie said.

“Moreletapark residents had to cope with weekly cable thefts over the past few months. Once or more each week, we wake up at 3am without power because our electrical cables have been stolen.

“It is impossible to do work, have a hot shower, cook food or get anything done when the cables are stolen.

“This makes it impossible to live a normal life.”

ALSO READ: Upset resident says lack of protection of nodes causes cable theft

Ward 91 councillor Henning Viljoen said most incidents of theft were taking place on the feeder line running between the Mooikloof substation and the NIA offices.

“There was a theft where 30m of cable inside the NIA building’s boundaries were stolen. The area most affected is the north-westerly portion of Moreletapark that includes Brabham, parts of Wekker, Paul, Timbavati and Jozini streets and extensions 44, 51, 65, 70 and 85,” Viljoen said.

Viljoen assured that the metro deemed the theft as a “major challenge”, but that there were “very limited budget constraints”, posing a challenge on available resources.

Garsfontein police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Duane Lightfoot, said no arrests had been made and that cases were still being investigated.

Edited by Nica Richards.

This article first appeared on Caxton publication Pretoria Rekord, by Sinesipho Schrieber. Read the original article here.