Power close to restoration, security guards gunned down
More than 10 spent cartridges were found on the scene of crime.
Power in the Johannesburg CBD is close to being restored after a devastating underground fire that started on March 28.
City Power officially only commenced restoration work on March 30 after the site was handed over by Emergency Management Services (EMS) but hit a snag on March 31 evening when an underground sewage pipe burst.
Joburg Water was informed to attend to the sewerage and City Power has been put work on hold until the tunnel has been cleared.
This further delays the operation that was extended by the mop-up taking longer than anticipated.
“Unfortunately, the situation has been compounded by this burst pipe that is further delaying restoration of critical services to inner-city customers,” MMC for Environment Infrastructure and Service Delivery Michael Sun said.
“But I remain confident power will be restored and the important work of getting to the bottom of the cause of this disaster will also proceed with haste.”
Further tragedy struck City Power during clean up and restoration efforts when two security guards were gunned down after transporting burnt out copper cabling away from the disaster site.
The security officers, contracted to City Power, were patrolling some of the cable theft hotspots around Newtown when they were ambushed by an unknown number of men at around 22:00 on March 31.
The security officers had just completed a task of escorting a City Power truck transporting tons and tons of the burned copper cables from Inner-city underground tunnels fire to the utility’s Salvage Yard at the head office in Booysens.
While inspecting a well-known entry point to the Johannesburg city’s underground tunnels, the duo was gunned down and robbed of one of their service firearms.
“We condemn this senseless killing of our security officials. We appeal to the law enforcement agencies to hunt the killers and ensure justice is done,” Sun said.
The murders follow an armed robbery at the Cynda Substation on March 30 when criminals held up City Power contracted security guards at gunpoint and stole 12 copper cables from the high voltage yard.
Sun implores the SAPS and national department of police to prioritise investigations into this before any more robberies and murders are committed.
“Cable theft is a serious crime against the State and economic sabotage that should be dealt with without fear. We are not going to relent in our fight against this scourge.
“The latest killing goes to show how brazen and dangerous the cable thieves have become, and asserts we believe that this is an organised crime committed not by just an ordinary person, but by heavily armed gangs, equipped with cars and other resources,” Sun said.
