Cable theft severely affects cane farmers
The crops of 70 sugar cane farmers have been jeopardised after were cables stolen at Walda Pump Station outside Tonga on July 21.
This cable theft affected 750 hectares of planted cane.
The matter was reported to Tonga Police Station and a case was opened.
The thieves gained entry by damaging the electric fence of the station. After entering the pump yard, they further vandalised the panels outside and inside the pump house.
The burglar door lock was cut open and the cables that connected to the electric motors were stolen.
The farmers replaced the cables and fixed the facility soon after the incident and had to wait for the access to electricity for a period of time as Eskom did not repair the access after the new cables were put in.
As soon as electricity was available at the pump station again, the water pump was restored and no further delays kept the farmers waiting. The cost for replacing the cables was close to R200 000, excluding the Eskom service costs.
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With Walda Pump Station off, reed irrigation stopped.
The water pump station has been running smoothly since the cables were replaced.
The farmers and project leaders attended a meeting on August 10 to discuss the impact the pump station had on the farms the during time it was not operational.
Ninety per cent of the farms that make use of the pump farm sugar cane.
Solutions to and prevention of similar future incidents were discussed at the meeting. The farmers came to the realisation that the security measures need to be improved.
It was decided at the meeting that the short-term solution would be to hire security companies to protect the surroundings of Walda Pump Station as the farmers and project leaders calculate the costs for new alarm systems, improved security fences, cameras and their own security guards.
