R500k worth of cables stolen

SOL PLAATJE Municipality said it has lost R500,000 worth of cables due to theft from June 2022 to date.

The municipality has again condemned the theft of cables after Moghul Park, De Beers and Kenilworth were left without electricity for three days.

Residents in these areas said they at first thought they were experiencing load shedding, but later discovered that Eskom was not the problem.

“I woke my daughter up for school on Monday morning at around 5.45am and found that the light bulb of my bedroom would not switch on. I at first thought that the light bulb might have fused. I went to my daughter's room and when I switched on her light bulb it also was not working. I went to check on the metre box and saw that the digits did not reflect. I sighed and thought it was load shedding,” said one De Beers resident.

“One part of me was, however, pleased that we had load shedding during the early hours as it meant that I could carry on with my housework for the rest of the day. As the hours passed and I wanted to get on with my day, I realised that the power had still not been restored. I asked my neighbour and she also indicated that she had been without power since early morning hours.”

Another De Beers resident said she had to seek alternative ways of ensuring that her family had a cooked meal.

“I also at first thought it was load shedding. However, as the evening drew close, I called my sister and asked her whether I could cook at her house. By that time I was certain that the power would be restored later that night. When we woke up on Tuesday morning and found the situation to be still the same, it frustrated my entire household,” she said.

“It turned all our schedules upside down as my children would usually study until late at night to prepare for the semester tests. We had to cook our meals at the homes of our relatives. It has also been very cold and rainy these past few days. We had to go to bed early in order not to freeze because even watching television in front of my electric heater was out of the question. It has been such an irritation.”

Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesperson Thoko Riet said the local authority was able to restore electricity to the affected areas on Wednesday.

She added that incidents of cable theft forced the municipality to dig deep into its pockets.

“Cable theft and the destruction of infrastructure affects us all negatively. The cost of replacing the stolen cables and vandalised infrastructure comes out of the pockets of the taxpayers. As of July 2002, to date, we have lost R500,000 worth of stolen cables. These funds could have been utilised somewhere else,” said Riet.

She pointed out that cable theft not only impacts the finances of the municipality, but it can also be hazardous.

“The theft of cables has a huge effect on our power stations and could in some instances result in the explosion of transformers.

“Our teams had to work around the clock to restore the power following the cable theft in Samaria Road. The weather was also not favourable for the teams to conduct their work, however, they remained persistent and were able to restore the power.”

Riet called on residents to report incidents of cable theft.

“The protection of our sub-stations should not remain the responsibility of the municipality solely, but residents should partner with the municipality as well as law authorities in rooting out this scourge.

“We urge community members to be vigilant and to work with law enforcement agencies to bring the culprits of cable theft and the vandals who destroy our infrastructure to book.”