KwaDukuza municipality loses millions to cable theft
Municipal spokesperson Sipho Mkhize said last year the cost of theft and associated damages came to more than R10-million.
The issue of cable theft and damage to infrastructure is costing KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) millions and contributes half of all electricity outages, with illegal scrapyards being the main purchasers of stolen infrastructure equipment.
Municipal spokesperson Sipho Mkhize said last year the cost of theft and associated damages came to more than R10 million.
“Cable theft is growing. During the installation of new infrastructure projects especially, thieves remove cables at night because trenches have to be left open for some time. We cannot lay short stretches of cable, meaning thieves have easy access,” said Mkhize.
Referring to existing infrastructure, Mkhize said the theft occurred mainly in open areas such as parks. Criminals also dig up cables during loadshedding when it is safer for them to operate.
Other infrastructure being stolen included streetlight aerial bundled conductors used for illegal connections, which also results in energy losses.
Mkhize said most malfunctioning streetlights were due to cable theft and vandalism.
In some areas, cables were cut so the lights are off for planned burglaries and muggings.
While KDM has electronic security systems installations in place, Mkhize believed closing illegal scrapyards and educating the community about the effect of cable theft and infrastructure vandalism on their quality of life, will help make a huge difference to curb the problem.
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