City Power has called in the help of the police to try to curb incidents of sabotage and vandalism of City Power infrastructure in key areas in the city.
In a recent incident in the Unaville informal settlement in Lenasia South, City Power electricity poles were cut down by criminals.
It is not clear why this was done, but it is suspected that it was done in retaliation after City Power removed illegal connections that have been disrupting electricity supply to paying customers, including the nearby Grasmere Toll Gate.
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City Power has opened a case of damage to essential infrastructure in terms of the Criminal Amendment Act, at the SAPS, and has also increased its plain-clothes security in the area. If perpetrators are found guilty of damaging essential infrastructure, they could face maximum sentences of 30 years.
There is also a suspicion that the transformer poles could have been cut down for the purpose of stealing transformers. During the past 8 months, City Power has replaced seven pole-mounted transformers in the same area, costing approximately R1.5 million.
“We are working with law enforcement agencies to ensure that those responsible for these crimes against the state, are apprehended. We should not allow lawlessness and any efforts to interrupt the supply of electricity to the majority of our people to be tolerated,” said City Power CEO Lerato Setshedi.
It has been some months since a new informal settlement was started on a farm in the area. The informal settlement has no electricity supply and its residents have decided to connect to the old line supplying nearby farms. The illegal cables have been connected to the low voltage circuit. Some of the wires have been connected directly to the medium voltage lines.
The poor nature of these connections and the resultant overloading of the circuit, cause the premature failure of pole transformers. Most of the current transformers supplying the area are new, as the old ones had failed prematurely owing to illegal connections. Restoring power to the area has proved to be a futile exercise because as soon as it is switched on, it trips again when there is an overload.
City Power teams that are dispatched to restore power to the area must first remove these dangerous connections but are often prevented from doing so by informal settlement dwellers. Removal of illegal connections is not a lasting solution as they are reconnected as soon the teams leave the site.
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