Five electricity cable thieves bust
Significant damage done to important infrastructure
Five people have been arrested for damaging power utility Eskom’s infrastructure‚ valued at about R1-million.
The arrests in Mooinooi in the North West took place after Eskom’s investigation team‚ deployed in Rustenburg‚ caught two suspects while they were busy cutting aluminium cable from a network line that was lying on the ground.
“The suspects had earlier cut seven wooden poles from the lines which caused the network line to collapse. After receiving backup from their colleagues‚ the Eskom investigation team searched the area and found 3 375m of aluminium cable under a tree in the bush‚” Eskom said in a statement.
Three more suspects‚ who were meant to transport the
‘‘ Innocent people can be exposed to danger
stolen material‚ were arrested.
The five suspects were all detained and a case of damaging or tampering with Eskom’s essential infrastructure was opened at the Mooinooi police station.
The arrests‚ according to Eskom‚ came after a series of aluminium conductor thefts in the Mooinooi and Marikana areas‚ where suspects had gone undetected for a number of months.
“Even though the thieves were ultimately apprehended‚ significant damage to important infrastructure had already occurred and this has far-reaching effects‚” said Tebogo Rakau‚ divisional executive for security at Eskom.
“It is not only power supply that is affected. Other essential services such as water supply‚ healthcare services and learning at schools are also disrupted when electricity infrastructure like power lines and transformers is damaged or stolen.
“Innocent people‚ particularly children‚ as well as animals can also be exposed to danger and even die when they get into contact with lowhanging cables left behind by infrastructure thieves.”