City Power suspends employees for theft of cable drums
RANDBURG - Five City Power employees were recently suspended for theft of drums of cable at the Randburg depot.
The anti-corruption and anti-cable theft drive that City Power embarked on since last year proves to be bearing fruits.
The power utility announced on 19 August that they suspended five of their employees for theft of drums of cable worth R4.5 million at Randburg depot.
“Each of the cable drums stolen carries cable that is 300 metres long and the suspects will be charged with fraud and theft,” said City Power managing director Sicelo Xulu in a statement.
Xulu further stated that investigations are underway to determine whether the employees have links with organised crime syndicates. He added that as the investigations unfold, more arrests are expected.
The arrest of these employees follows a thorough audit of inventory of cable equipment.
“These arrests are part of our anti-corruption drive that seeks to rid the utility of criminal elements. This year we have seen a significant spike in cable theft and corrupt practices, and in some of these incidents our contractors and employees were implicated,” informed Xulu.
It is understood that the theft of cables of electricity equipment has left many areas surrounding Randburg depot into darkness earlier this year.
Ward 98 Councillor Laurette van Zijl expressed her views about the cable theft. “This shows that there was no control at the Randburg depot….We have been complaining about this for so long, and employees stealing cables is just a wasteful expenditure.”
Randpark Extension 2 resident Derek Llyod, who has endured power cuts in his neighborhood early this year, was not pleased. “I think this is negligence, what they did was wrong and they should be held accountable….City Power should do more investigations,” shared Llyod.
Since last year July, 227 suspects have been arrested.
Xulu advised that “We urge and encourage our stakeholders to continue to work with us in order to deal a decisive blow to this scourge of cable theft and corruption.
“The vandalism of electricity infrastructure and theft of electricity is not a crime against City Power alone, but it is an offence against all the law-abiding citizens and ratepayers in Johannesburg,” Xulu concludes.
