City Power arrests at least 130 for theft and vandalism over 12 month period

City Power has revealed the number of people arrested in Johannesburg in connection with cable theft, vandalism and tampering.

The announcement came after two City Power contractors were among four men who appeared in court on Wednesday on charges of cable theft and vandalism.

Security units responded to a tip-off on Sunday which resulted in the men being caught with R350 000 worth of copper cables stashed in four drums.

‘Zero tolerance’ policy toward theft

City Power stated that this is a result of them having beefed up their security measures in the last financial year.

The recent arrests of the men near Rueven, Johannesburg, push the number of those arrested past the 130 mark since July 2023.

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City Power confirmed that some of the arrested persons were internal staff members and contractors.

“We hope that this sends a very strong message to those who may still be involved in any form of criminality, particularly those who are attached to City Power in some capacity,” said City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava.

Arrests leading to convictions

Arrested persons can take well over 12 months to prosecute, however, 19 people have been sentenced to a cumulative 163 years in prison.

The harshest sentence went to a 33-year-old who was given 15 years by the Tembisa Magistarte’s Court for a tampering incident in August 2022.

However, of those 163 years, 48 were wholly suspended, allowing those convicted to go free subject to them not committing crimes within a prescribed period.

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“The lenient sanctions imposed in some cases are troubling. Crimes against essential infrastructure are classified as Schedule Five offences and should be treated accordingly.

“We will seek a thorough review from the National Prosecuting Authority on these suspended sentences and make sure that every sentence imposed duly fits the crime,” said Mashava.

Relentless outages

Cable theft and vandalism still plague the city, with intermittent unplanned outages throughout the City of Johannesburg’s seven regions.

In the week between 5 and 12 August, City Power alerted the public via social media to at least 71 unplanned outages across Johannesburg.  

The Reuven and Randburg SDCs were the hardest hit with 15 and 12 alerted outages each, with Roodepoort also registering double figures with 10 outages in those seven days.

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City Power also frequently publishes a list of open calls – faults logged by the public – for every SDC.

Hursthill SDC recorded the highest open call volume for a single day, with 883 open calls listed on 5 August.

Comparable numbers were seen at the Inner City SDC, which had 428 on 5 August and 226 open calls on 12 August.

These numbers are in constant flux and drop as soon as technicians restore service, as many open calls relate to the same outage.