KSD beefs up sub-station security
King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipal bosses are beefing up security at electricity sub-stations for fear of cable thieves striking during the latest round of load-shedding.
Although no cable theft has been reported since load-shedding reared its head again earlier this month, municipal authorities have resolved to increase visibility around electricity sub-stations for fear that cable thieves, or “izinyoka”, could take advantage of the situation.
This was confirmed by KSD municipal spokesperson Sonwabo Mampoza on Thursday.
The financially-troubled municipality has found itself at the mercy of cable thieves, and as a result has had to spend millions of rands each year on replacing missing cables.
Last year alone, city bosses forked out in excess of R1.3m to buy new cables that had been stolen in two separate incidents.
Mampoza said cables were meant to deliver electricity and improve the lives of the residents of KSD.
The municipality has more than 10 sub-stations. The biggest, Sidwadwa, supplies power to the central business district and many residential areas.
The other major sub-stations are Thornhill, Hillcrest and Unitra, which deliver power to residential suburbs and townships.
“Our municipal police members are now deployed to guard our sub-stations day and night,” said Mampoza.
“They (sub-stations) are part of the municipality’s critical infrastructure points and it is infrastructure that is meant to benefit the people. When it is stolen, it is the people who suffer the most.”
The spokesperson confirmed that KSD had been forced to shell out millions of rands to replace stolen cables.
“It is not the intention of the council to always buy new things to replace stolen infrastructure.”
He said this had an adverse impact on service delivery itself, as purchasing new cables every time they were stolen impacted on the municipality’s budget.
The Dispatch previously reported that in 2013 and 2015, KSD spent more than R5m on buying new cables.
O R Tambo District Chamber of Business president Vuyisile Ntlabati identified electricity and water as essential for new investments. He said most businesses were reliant on electricity.