Princess community catches cable thief
The Record attempted to contact the sector response vehicle but the call was redirected to voice mail several times.
The community of the informal settlement, fed up with cable theft in the area, took it upon themselves to arrest a man, 25, this afternoon.
They found him digging in existing trenches from previous cable thefts on Van De Linde Road, the west entrance to the settlement. A mob of people took the suspect to a nearby home where he was kept and the Record was contacted. Many residents were adamant that contacting the Roodepoort Police would not solve anything.
The Record on behalf of the Princess community attempted to contact the Sector 2 response vehicle on 071 675 7129 but the call was redirected to voice mail several times. The Record also phoned the Roodepoort police station before arriving at the scene. The tools the suspect used to allegedly dig up and steal cables were also confiscated from him and handed over to the Roodepoort Police on scene.
After listening to the community’s complaints, Sergeant Nkosi and Constable Moalafi locked the man up in the back of their van and drove off. No statements were taken on scene.
Macbeth Modisadife, a Ward 71 committee member, on scene said that residents found other suspects stealing cables from the same trenches on Sunday morning 17 March at 3am.
Residents heard strange noises from the roadside and investigated, after which they contacted the Roodepoort Police – four vehicles arrived at the scene,” Modisadife said.
He further said cable theft led to a water pipe bursting about 500 metres from the scene of the trenches. Water gushed down the dusty road all weekend until the pipe was repaired on Sunday evening.
“The community feels not enough is being done by the police to cable theft in this area.”
At 2.39pm calls made to the Sector 2 response vehicle still redirected to voice mail. The Record will direct this issue and other allegations made on scene to the Roodepoort Police for comment.
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