Ermelo resident appeals for action after suspected cable theft
The latest incident brings renewed attention to cable theft concerns following several cases reported in recent months.
ERMELO – Some residents in George Botha Park were left without electricity following suspected cable theft early this morning.
Resident Zimile Nsele said they became aware of the outage at about 03:00.
In an update sent to Highvelder at 09:21, she said electricity had not yet been restored. To her knowledge, neither municipal officials nor police officers had arrived at the scene.
Whether electricity had been restored since Nsele’s 09:21 update could not be confirmed at the time of publication.
“This is becoming a serious concern, as residents are left inconvenienced by the actions of criminals,” she said.
Nsele supplied photographs and appealed for urgent attention.
Her complaint follows several incidents covered by Highvelder in recent months, including severed cables at the Ext 14 substation in October and the recovery of suspected stolen copper cable in Ermelo East in September.
Previous reports also covered suspected stolen infrastructure recovered at an Ermelo scrapyard and cable-related arrests in Ermelo and Lothair.
Highvelder approached Msukaligwa Local Municipality spokesperson Mandla Zwane for comment on the George Botha Park incident. He had not responded at the time of publication.
Read more about the earlier cable recoveries, arrests and alleged bribe attempt reported between March and July in the Highvelder’s printed edition.
