The City of Johannesburg said on Wednesday it is working on an emergency plan to deal with the alarming high levels of cable theft.
The city says cable theft continued at alarming high levels during the festive season, especially following incidents of flooding at the beginning of December.
According to City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, more than 150 incidents of cable theft and vandalism were recorded in December alone.
This past weekend, he said, saw eight incidents being reported in Roodepoort alone.
“All these are compounded by load shedding as criminals take advantage of the downtime to do their evil deeds.
“Roodepoort is the hardest-hit where we have since 1 January recorded at least 19 incidents of theft and vandalism- eight of them happened this past weekend,” Mangena said.
The city has issued a call for communities to play a more active role this year in protecting the city, noting that infrastructure critical providing basic services to the people of Johannesburg “remains under siege from vandals and thieves”.
Cable theft can be reported to City Power using any of the following 24-hour hotlines: 011-490-7900 or 011-490-7911. Alternatively, one can WhatsApp 083-597-4497.
Vandalism or theft of Joburg Water infrastructure can be anonymously be reported to 0800 00 2587.
Environmental and Infrastructure Services MMC Michael Sun said the City launched an infrastructure protection initiative last year to work alongside neighbourhood watches and other groups taking it upon themselves to help safeguard City Power’s electrical grid.
Despite all the efforts made, cable theft remains rampant in the city.
In 2022, over 200 Jojo tanks provided by Johannesburg Water to communities to supply areas without formal services were either stolen or vandalised, the city adds.
“This situation breaks my heart. Cable theft and infrastructure vandalism are killing service delivery across the country. We need communities to work with us this year to ensure we put an immediate stop to this plaque,” Sun said.
Source: Africa Press, Engineering News, News 24, image from Twitter: @RantsSouth