The City of Ekurhuleni announced that it has recently beefed up its security measures around power supply infrastructure amidst theft and vandalism, which have caused multiple power outages.
According to metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini, this was done through the appointment of private security companies and the use of technology to complement the work already done by the city’s metro police officers.
MMC for Water, Sanitation and Energy Senzi Sibeko also revealed the new development during a community meeting in Kempton Park on July 7 where he was updating the public on the steps the city is taking to reduce power outages.
“We have experienced a high number of cases of vandalism on our infrastructure. In some cases, the vandals just cut down streetlight poles and leave them on the ground without taking anything. Theft and vandalism have become a trend in municipalities throughout the country,” said Sibeko.
The additional security measures will help to secure infrastructures, including the substations and cables that are mostly targeted by thieves who apparently sell their loot to scrap metal dealers.
The metro urges residents to join the fight against those undermining the city’s infrastructure, meant to deliver essential services to citizens.
The city’s electricity infrastructure has for years been under siege by cable thieves and vandals, whose unlawful acts perpetually plunge communities into darkness.
“These thefts and vandalism of electricity infrastructure are rife during load-shedding and such illegal behaviour hurts service delivery.
“Council previously alluded to the need to introduce new plans to deal with the attack on its infrastructure. These plans include offering rewards to those who help to catch the perpetrators and gathering enough evidence that could directly lead to a successful conviction.
“No decision on the rewards has been reached, however, this issue of incentives forms part of the new interventions that the city is considering going forward,” explained Dlamini.
Besides all of these initiatives, the metro is also in the process of appointing a new service provider to safeguard the city’s infrastructure and other council-owned properties.
“The processes to appoint a service provider has been initiated and it is already at procurement committees.
“To protect the city’s property, in the meantime, the expired contract of security service provider has been extended on a month to month basis until there are new appointments in place.”
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