Brand new MSS vandalised – twice
The newly installed mini-substation in Johan Road, Honeydew, has been vandalised twice during the past week.
The new mini-substation (MSS) on Johan Road has been vandalised twice this week.
This comes barely three weeks after it was installed, replacing another MSS that was stripped of its copper content. The old MSS was not repairable.
According to the owner of the Honeydew Equestrian Centre, Martenique van der Westhuizen, their electricity went off at 02:45 on March 4.
“City Power (CP) technicians came out on Monday afternoon. They were working at the MSS and later claimed to have fixed the problem, but could not test since it was load-shedding. When load-shedding ended, the entire area came back on except for those of us fed by the new MSS.”
Van der Westhuizen and other residents logged calls and CP technicians came out again on Tuesday afternoon.
“They inspected the MSS and told us they could not fix it since the previous contractors did not finish the job. There was a breaker that was not switched on, and this could only be done by someone with high voltage certification.”
Van der Westhuizen says that high voltage technicians showed up at about 13:30 on Wednesday, and identified, in addition to the breaker switch not being activated, that buzz bars were stolen out of the MSS.
• Also read: HRA secures notorious Johan Road mini-sub
“They managed to restore our power, and we were very pleased when it came back on after load-shedding that evening.”
Their excitement did not last long though, as power never came back on after their second bout of load-shedding at 2am.
“We called CP again, and they sent someone out the next morning. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the newly installed palisade fencing around the MSS was broken into, and the MSS had been stripped of its copper content.”
The vandals had also cut the fences of two properties; that of the Honeydew Equestrian Centre, and the plot across the road. According to owner Verna Campbell, this was the eighth time that her electric fencing had been cut. I had 14 solar lights installed, some of them directly facing the MSS across the street. All of these have been stolen.
A closer inspection of this portion of Campbell’s property revealed some tools left behind by the vandals.
“These are not tools you can buy at just any hardware shop,” says Campbell. “It is specialised tools used in high voltage electrical work.”
She adds that she had a friend who works in the industry look at the tools, and he valued them at a minimum of R50 000.
By the time the Roodepoort Northsider visited the site, residents were keeping an eye on the vandalised MSS and waiting for police to arrive to take fingerprints and claim the tools that were left behind.
Electricity was eventually restored at around 21:00 on Thursday.
The Northsider has sent questions to CP spokesperson Isaac Mangena, but no answers were forthcoming by the time of going to print.
