Centurion residents are fed up with continuous power outages in their area caused by cable theft.
Residents claim that at least once a week, one of the many local neighbourhoods will be without power for several hours and sometimes even a couple of days.
Not only residents have been affected, but some businesses have also felt the pressure.
Eberhard Niklaus, of Oasis Nail and Beauty Spa in Monavoni, expressed his frustrations with cable theft and the impact it has had on his business.
“I have been in this area for 10 years. Cable theft has always been a problem and we have them all the time,” said Niklaus.
He said even though his business does have a generator, power outages were still an inconvenience for the business as the generator takes a while to kick in.
Ntsieni Ralioma, a resident of Silverstone Country Estate in Monavoni, said working at home has become difficult.
“The cable theft issue threatens my job as it hampers me from doing the job delegated to me and makes me miss deadlines.”
Themba Fosi, a local ward councillor, said he was aware of cable theft and vandalism in the area.
Fosi said taking security measures were not an easy task as electricity cables ran across thousands of kilometres.
“Often the closest police station (Olievenhoutbosch) does not even have cars to send out.
“The police seem to treat cable theft as if it were a private security matter, instead of a priority crime.”
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However, Sergeant Pretty Mokadi, spokesperson of the Olievenhoutbosch police said she was not aware of the claims made by Fosi regarding the station not having cars available.
Mokadi advised all members of the community to refrain from taking matters into their own hands should they catch anyone suspected of stealing cables.
The chairperson for the local CPF, pastor Petrus Mojela, said the organisation’s neighbourhood watch initiative, aims at patrolling every neighbourhood around Monavoni and Olievenhoutbosch.
“Patrolling of neighbourhoods happens every night. Since we started, cases of cable theft have gone down,” Mojela said.
Police and CPF have both advised residents to report any suspicious behaviour or cable theft to the CPF for a quick response.
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