ROSETTENVILLE – Ward 57 Clr Bev Turk received a phone call from City Power official Joe Mokoena about the sabotage of City property.
“We visited Wemmerpan Road, where we found eight street light poles damaged, sawn off with an angle grinder, and cable stolen. Furthermore, substations were vandalised where the power for the robots are housed,” she explained.
She is calling on any resident from the South who sees incidents of this kind happening to please call SAPS on 10111 and JMPD on 011 375 5911, which is the emergency number.
Joe Mokoena said these thieves use ladders to climb up the streetlights. “Some of the streetlight poles are cut at the top, which means you need a step-ladder. At first the cables were underground; however they dug trenches to get it out.
“We then tried to put it overhead on the poles, but they still pull them down or just cut the pole to get the cables. This is really a problem for the city,” he said.
“I am also calling on the risk management of City Power and the law enforcement agencies to do regular patrols around the area from the Mooi Street Bridge to Garden Street in Rosettenville,” Clr Turk said.
It is of utmost importance, as this sort of incident not only costs the city money, but it also affects the tax-payer, in the loss of time when travelling and with robots not working.
These vagabonds are also breaking up the concrete kerb inlet covers to steal the steel. Tax payers, whether they are officials of the City of Johannesburg or residents in the private sector, all have a duty to play their parts in catching these thieves.
“But most importantly, SAPS, JMPD and the Risk Control from City Power need to do their bit and patrol the hotspots in the south of Johannesburg,” she concluded.
