Cables being renewed in Melville
MELVILLE - Presumed cable theft in broad daylight may not be what it seems.
Residents may have noticed large trucks blocking the streets and people in the roads hefting thick black cables in their arms in the past few weeks. No need to worry, this isn’t cable theft – this is good news.
“We are renewing cables in the city, and replacing old ones with the new,” Johannesburg City Power spokesperson Maynard Mangiyanba said on 9 June. “Residents needn’t worry, normal electricity supply won’t be interrupted.”
City Power’s head of the Hursthill Depot, Rakefa Makgoro proudly said at the Westdene Resident’s Association meeting,“This is our new project. Old wires are being replaced with sturdier, heavy cables, called ABC (Aerial Bundle Conductor) cables. These cables are strong and thick, and contain minimal copper, and the copper is heavily diluted with aluminium. These cables are not easy to steal or profitable for cable thieves.”
They’re trying to combat the increasing cable theft in the city, but it is, he admitted, an uphill battle. “The cables are old and faulty in many places. Unfortunately, we can only replace bits and pieces, in streets where it’s urgent and in areas that have been targeted as hotspots for thieves. Everything depends on the availability of the budget. Unfortunately, I cannot replace all the cables in Johannesburg in my lifetime,” Makgoro sighed. “But we’re doing all we can.”
