MBOMBELA – A total of 10 people will appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Friday on allegations of illegal electricity connections.
The suspects were arrested on Wednesday during a police operation in Mataffin near Mbombela Stadium. The affected houses allegedly installed cables that allowed them to connect illegally to the transformer.
Earlier this year a transformer in the area had also exploded more than twice, apparently due to overloading.
Eskom joined the police-led operation to halt unlawful connections in the area. They confiscated approximately 80 tons of cables.
The operation revealed that 350 houses had illegal electricity connections from a main transformer. Of the 350 unlawfully connected, 340 home occupants escaped their houses after seeing the SAPS doing the disconnections.
The police further called on the community to stop connecting electricity illegally to avoid danger to life and the financial implication it had on local municipalities.
Lowvelder has previously reported on the death of a 21-month-old toddler who died from electrocution due t illegal electricity cables while playing with his friends near his home at Matsulu.
Eskom has been vigorously implementing strategies and plans to mitigate these risks.
The power grid has been plagued by unlawful connections in informal areas over the years and this causes financial distress to municipalities. Government has estimated that electricity theft costs South Africa a whopping R4,4 billion every year.
