Ward 66 councillor, Carlos da Rocha has blamed the presence of vagrants and a lack of commitment from officials for continuous vandalism of the power substations in his ward.
Clr Carlos da Rocha said he recently received calls about vagrants at the Troyville substation.
“When I went there I found the evidence confirming that they were there. I called City Power management and they sent a manager who met me at the substation. He promised to get rid of these vagrants and lock the substation. But three weeks after that meeting the situation is still in the same condition,” Clr da Rocha said.
He said this affects his work as a councillor.
“The management of departments do not do simple things such as lock and secure council infrastructure but lie and say they will attend to it immediately. Where does this put us as councillors?” Clr da Rocha asked.
He said the problem of substation vandalism was widespread across his ward.
“These stations and electrical boxes are not locked properly, that exposes dangerous electrical cables that can harm children and animals. It also make it easy for thieves to steal cables or fuses from these electrical boxes,” he said.
He said, recently, parts of Kensington were without power for a day after a fuse was stolen from an electrical box.
An inquiry was sent to City Power senior communications officer, Mr Sydney Mphahlele on Wednesday, January 6 with a request of a comment by Thursday, January 7 at 9am.
At the time of going to print no comment was received.
