Crime ruins business in Pinetown
The DA's PR Councillor for Ward 13 and 15 discovered a spike in cable theft has caused a massive delay in service delivery in Westmead.
THE rapid spike in cable theft and business robberies in the Westmead area has prompted a local ward councillor and the SAPS to establish a Business Against Crime Forum.
Trenches along Richmond Road in Pinetown have remained open for the past two months, forcing pedestrians to walk along the busy road. Marlaine Nair, the DA PR councillor for ward 13 and 15, said concerns were raised that a pedestrian could be knocked down, injured or killed because of this.
Nair made an enquiry and established that the trenches were opened to lay electrical cables.
She discovered there is also currently a shortage of electrical cables.
Also read: Cable theft sparks danger in Hillcrest
“I have been told the stores department is running short of various electrical supplies as theft of these components is being stolen on a daily basis. Lights, cables, transformers and poles are stolen regularly and the department has not been able to keep up with the replacement of stock,” said Nair.
Hans Beier, CEO of Beier, described the trenches along the road as a disaster.
“It is a busy road and pedestrians are forced to walk in the traffic or they walk along high heaps of sand. It is only a matter of time before an accident happens,” said a concerned Beier.
Nair said, “It appears this problem of shortage of materials has affected other areas in eThekwini as well. The shortage of stock has significantly impacted service delivery turnaround times. I have written to officials in charge in this department concerning this matter and am awaiting feedback.”
While investigating the matter of cable theft, Nair found that business owners were dealing with more than the inconvenience of cable theft.
“Many business owners have been burgled several times. I have heard of one business owner who has closed down and relocated overseas because he could not deal with the crime,” said Nair.
“I am certain there are many others who have left or are considering leaving.”
“The issue of crime must be addressed as soon as possible. We cannot allow businesses to close down and people to lose their jobs. There are already more than 8.3 million unemployed people in South Africa. We cannot allow the situation to get worse,” said the local councillor.
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