City Power staff overpowered by criminals

Four City Power technicians who were attending to a fault in Roodepoort on Monday were robbed of their cellphones and wallets at gunpoint, thus prolonging the blackout in the area.

This is just the latest in a string of violent incidents, some of which have affected the response times to power outages, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said yesterday.

“The team was on the way to replace a faulty pole transformer in Block 5A (Ebumnandini) when three men ambushed and robbed them of their cellphones and wallets. The team had to withdraw back to the Roodepoort service delivery centre.

“The violent incident has unfortunately lengthened the duration of the outage.”

Mangena said an assessment would be made to determine whether it’s safe for our workers to return and carry out repairs.

He said the incident came two weeks after technicians in Lenasia South were robbed and their vehicle hijacked.

“In that case three technicians, who were testing faulty cables in the area, were also attacked at gunpoint.

“The hijackers drove away with our car which has since been recovered.”

The Joburg power utility has struggled with rampant vandalism. “Our employees are increasingly bearing the brunt of this criminal trend.

“As the entity, we have made counselling services available to the employees affected, as well as other measures that they may require,” said Mangena.

“However, the attacks are dangerous and unsustainable and are likely to make the utility review its operation particularly in hot-spot areas.”

Mangena called on residents to assist in the fight against vandalism and crime by alerting authorities when they see something suspicious, through community policing forums and call centres.

“While we have an option to request escorts from [the Johannesburg Metro Police Department] to enable us to render service to the communities, it is increasingly becoming unsustainable. Sadly, this may affect our response times to outages in hostile areas.

“City Power wishes to reiterate that it will not hesitate to pull out teams from any area where their safety is at risk.”