Ward 115 councillor Mark van der Merwe opened a case at the Douglasdale Police Station of tampering with municipal infrastructure and having stolen copper cables against a City Power official who was caught stealing the copper cables.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena confirmed that an employee along with a former sub-contractor, have been arrested for attempting to steal copper cables on December 21. “The trenching and cutting of an MV cable happened during daylight, with a City Power branded vehicle on-site along with a TLB, to create an impression that the work was legitimate and sanctioned by the entity.”
The 30-year-old electrician, working at the Randburg Service Delivery Centre, was caught red-handed, in the middle of unearthing a 90m-long cable valued at over R100 000. “He was working with a crew from a former sub-contractor in Cedar Creek. The sub-contractor in question is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the entity on a separate matter where he is attempting to sue City Power for an on-duty injury,” said Mangena.
According to Van der Merwe, he received a notice from a security group of Ward 115 that City Power was there removing a cable so he went down to check if they were official City Power employees. “I asked them for their job number and they did not have one so I called management and asked if this was an authorised removal and they said they knew nothing about it. I then called local security companies to come and block all exits so that no one could leave,”
He elaborated on how he then called the City Power Risk Control who also alerted Douglasdale police.
“I laid a charge against the perpetrator I caught removing cables. I also gave details of other individuals and vehicles that were on- site. A warrant for the third suspect is out. The suspects appeared in court and they are awaiting the arrest of the third suspect to proceed with bail hearings.”
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