City Power condemns increasing attacks on technicians

City Power is deeply concerned and outraged by continuing attacks on their operators and other officials from the entity.

One of the operators was on his way to Pennyville to restore the power supply after load-shedding at midnight and was held at gunpoint and robbed of his
cellphone and nearly hijacked on November 19.

“Over this past weekend, a team of electricians were also robbed of their belongings at gunpoint in Randburg. After our operator was attacked in Pennyville, another team sadly had to go to the same area hours later to effect load-shedding restoration, which was a traumatic experience for them,” explained the utility’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

“These blatant and cowardly acts of criminality are making the work of City Power employees increasingly difficult. Almost every month, cases of intimidation, assault and robbery come to our attention and are reported to the police. Our team members are subjected to traumatic and violent experiences at the hands of merciless criminals in various parts of the city.”

Mangena said the issue is deeply troubling because so many other employees have also been held at gunpoint, robbed of cellphones, laptops, and toolboxes, hijacked and injured to the point of hospitalisation, all while on duty and servicing communities across Johannesburg.

“These vicious attacks occur sporadically in different parts of the city. Last month, two female officials were robbed at gunpoint while on duty on Wemmer Street in Roodepoort.
“In July, three members of our team were attacked in Lenasia while responding to a faulty meter problem. The two vehicles they were travelling in were also hijacked during that
unfortunate incident. Those cars were later found abandoned in Lawley, near the Meriting Squatter Camp in Lenasia South.

“In June, we also had a similar incident in Alexandra, where two officials and a councillor were nearly robbed of their belongings at Wanderers in Cydna Substation.
“Last year in Alexandra, various teams were attacked and robbed of their belongings. During that period, a team of technicians were also hijacked at gunpoint in Far Eastbank.”

Mangena recalled a more harrowing incident that also took place around this time last year and involved a 53-year City Power official who was hit several times with stones and sharp objects, resulting in him spending over a month in ICU, fighting for his life. This violent attack happened during a cut-off operation in Hilbrow.

As a result, City Power decided to withdraw overnight services in areas that are deemed to be hotspots.

“Even with additional security measures, we cannot guarantee the safety of our personnel, but this is also not sustainable considering that at the worst of times, we deal with almost 4000 outage calls that need to be dispatched. It is quite concerning that the entity has to enlist the help of JMPD and private security in a bid to deliver services to communities that attack its technicians,” he said.

“We urge residents with information to come forward and assist law enforcement officials in ensuring that they arrest these perpetrators – so that our teams can work without fear of losing their lives from violence.

“One of the victims of these violent attacks told City Power that in the past, the only thing they used to worry themselves about was staying safe from being harmed by the dangers
of working with electricity. Now, however, they say their daily prayer is about returning to their homes at the end of a workday, without being attacked or possibly killed by criminals.”

The crimes have been reported to the police.