Doubts surface over city’s pledge to tackle power theft
Last week, the city announced that it would be waging war against illegal power connections; however, the Greenwood Park CPF chairman says authorities have turned a blind eye to such activities for years.
CITY mayor, James Nxumalo, announced earlier this week that the municipality would be taking a stronger stance on cable thefts and illegal power connections, and invited members of the public to develop and share their own cable theft prevention methods.
However, Robin Candy, chairman of the Greenwood Park CPF, said yesterday that he believed the city was not being sincere.
“Illegal power connections remain rampant in Malacca Road Informal Settlement, but authorities have turned a blind eye and refuse to do anything. I have reported illegal connections several times, but they leave the wires exposed to the public and don’t seem to care about the safety of the community,” he said.
What’s more, Candy said residents of the Kwa-Mathambo Informal Settlement off North Coast Road have been pleading and protesting for over a year for the municipality to provide them with legal electricity infrastructure and connections, but to date they are still living in darkness.
“I would estimate that in the Greenwood Park area there are over 100 000 illegal power connections in the informal settlements, and when authorities do remove the connections, they are back up and running the next day,” he said.
The mayor’s call comes after thousands of illegal electricity wires were disconnected on Friday, 19 February during a joint operation in uThongathi, which had been identified as a hotspot.
The city pledged to continue its battle against the scourge of illegal connections with additional operations.
Nxumalo warned against cable and power thefts and emphasised that the criminal acts could have fatal and devastating consequences.
Power and cable thefts costs the municipality over R230-million per year, he said.
In an effort to reduce the criminal activities, city officials have implemented several initiatives, such as modifications to the infrastructure and awareness programmes in affected areas.
Any suspicion of cable theft can be reported to the following numbers:
- Electricity’s call centre 080 13 13 111, SMS 083 700 0819 or e-mail custocare@elec.durban.gov.za
- Cable theft hotline 031 311 9611
