The community of eMalahleni is continuously struggling with power outages as this is no newbie – but what is the main problem behind all these ongoing power outages?
It seems that the city is experiencing a rapid increase in the criminal act of cable theft,
Residents from Schoongezicht, Klipfontein and surrounded areas voiced their concerns due to having power problems daily.
“We as the community have suffered four power outages due to cable theft in two weeks. Seemingly, it is the same cable that is replaced that gets stolen every time. We are now fed up with this, and we demand that all the responsible people from our local municipality and law enforcement to be aware that of our intent to demonstrate peaceful strike against this ‘pandemic’ that we are suffering,” a cry for help from an aggrieved community member were posted on social media.
The community feels the elected officials in those areas seems to not care about the problem that residents are facing due to the power cable theft.
The most concerning part is that the community pleaded to the municipality and law enforcement to assist with this ongoing crime that is committed, the only response they were given was:
“The local municipality and Law Enforcement are afraid to patrol that specific area because one of their own has lost his life patrolling these hotspots,” Desireé Mampuru mentioned in her letter.
Although the reason is unethical for these residents, as a community they do not feel safe anymore.
The spokesperson of Emalahleni local municipality, Mr Lebo Mofokeng had no comment before going to print.
*If you know about cable theft in your area, please share your story with us on our Facebook page or email chrisune@witbanknews.co.za
