A resident on Heinz Thomas Street faces a charge of malicious damage to property after allegedly tampering with an electricity box on September 22.
He allegedly tried illegally connecting the electricity supply to his house after being cut off due to non-payment.
This attempt left the man’s teenage son injured and neighbours on Heinz Tomas and Ifafa streets in the dark most of the long weekend.
The power was only restored on September 25.
Govan Mbeki Municipality’s media spokesperson, Donald Green, confirmed that the resident’s electricity supply was cut off due to “non-payment on his electric bill.”
He said the power outage was due to a spark that caused a fire and shortage in the electricity box.
“The particular resident tried to connect the electricity illegally and damaged the infrastructure. The entire area was affected,” said Green.
“The damage was huge. Some of the equipment was unavailable at the municipal stores, and it needed to be ordered,” said Green.
Green further shared in a media statement: “GMM is pleading with customers to refrain from tampering with electricity infrastructure, including bypassing meters, vandalism and illegal connections. This is unsafe, dangerous and can lead to death.” said Green.
Penalties are severe, depending on the seriousness of the offence, and if people are found stealing electricity by connecting illegally to the power supply, it could lead to criminal charges against an offender.
“Illegal connections are unfair towards all paying customers whose power is constantly interrupted because of non-payers who overload the system and cause it to crash,” said Green.
He said this also causes overloading on mini-substations and pole-mounted transformers which eventually explode.
In response to the media statement received, the Ridge Times brought forward a question to Green as to how GMM allowed the man’s consumer bill to get so high, while any other residents would be cut off immediately if they did not pay the full amount. No answer was received.
Although GMM could not provide details of people injured when the electricity box in Heinz Thomas Street caught fire, Ridge Times had come to learn that a teenage boy sustained burns.
Clr Aranda Nel-Buitendag of the FF Plus said she received a phone call from a resident in Heinz Thomas Street to ask for help.
“I was informed that a teenager who had tampered with the electrical box was burned,” said Nel-Buitendag.
She said an ambulance service was called for assistance out of concern for the burn wounds the teenager may have suffered.
“I was informed that the teenager’s father refused the medical assistance,” said Nel-Buitendag.
She said besides the outside wound, there was the concern for internal damage by the high voltage that went through the teenager’s body.
Nel-Buitendag visited the boy’s father on September 23, and he allegedly admitted that the teenager tampered with the electricity box.
“The father blamed the teenager and said he was naughty. When I asked about the boy’s injuries, the father said his child is fine’,” said Nel-Buitendag.
She said the man took no accountability for his own actions and blamed everything on his teenaged son.
It is also alleged that witnesses had seen the man with his son “tampering” with the electric box.
A screwdriver was also left behind at the scene.
The Ridge Times reached out to the man telephonically, however, the call went straight to voicemail and a message was left.
In another attempt, the Ridge Times went to the man’s home to get comment.
The first time around, no one was home, however, the journalist, upon leaving saw a man and child walking along the street.
Returning to the man’s home, the journalist finally managed to confront the man on the allegations being made and to allow him to give his side of the story.
When the man was told that the Ridge Times had come to hear of the tampering of the electric box he denied any knowledge.
“I don’t know about this story, ” said the man in Afrikaans.
The journalist had pointed out that it was only right to get his side of the story and that if he did not comment, this would also be published.
“I was not there, I don’t know,” said the man.
The journalist explained that information received by Nel-Buitendag was a concern, as his son was injured in the process and that he refused any medical help from the paramedics.
“I just heard that my child was there, but I don’t know the story,” said the man.
The man said that he took his son to his private doctor.
The man ignored a question about his injured son’s condition and proceeded to walk back into his property.
The child who accompanied the man said that his brother sustained burns on his hand around the thumb and index finger. He said the brother is fine.
He also said that his brother is 17-years-old.
The municipality urges the public to anonymously report any incidents of illegal connections, cable theft and vandalism to the Anti-Fraud and Corruption hotline on 0800 212 319.
Incidents of vandalism or cable theft could also be reported to the Call Centre on 0800 6000 01/2/4 or send a WhatsApp message to 083 790 0659/082 343 2422.
