City Power has issued a warning against the tampering with electricity infrastructure after the death of two unknown people in different areas on Monday, October 17 and Tuesday, October 18.
A foreign national from Lesotho was killed early on Tuesday morning after he vandalised one of City Power’s mini substations at Hawker Siddeley in Roodepoort.
It is alleged that the victim illegally opened the mini substation with the intention to steal copper bits from inside.
The mini substation blew up badly injuring the person before he was taken to hospital where he was certified dead.
According to City Power Spokesperson Isaac Mangena, the area of Roodepoort is plagued by senseless vandalism and cable theft incidents which have been on the rise in recent days.
In another incident a body of a 28-year-old woman was found in a bushy wetland area of Meriting section, Lenasia.
It is suspected that the woman was electrocuted by the illegal connections running through the bushes.
The residents say the woman went missing on the October 8 after a community meeting in the area.
“We were only alerted on Tuesday, October 18 by the police who requested we switch off power and remove the illegal connections to ensure the area is safe for them to do their work.
We have been grappling with the problem of illegal connections in the Lenasia area, which are not only costing City Power millions of rands in lost revenue, but are dangerous as proven in this case. Both cases have been handed over to the police who are busy with their investigations. City Power extends condolences to the families of both victims,” said Mangena.
