8 guards held hostage as criminals steal cables north of Pretoria

Eight security officers were held hostage at gunpoint, while criminals cut and stole cables from a Tshwane metro mini sub-station in the north of Pretoria earlier this week.

The criminals gained entry to the mini sub-station through the palisade fence at Masakhane, next to the Gauteng department of infrastructure and property management workshops on Monday, according to Gauteng health department spokesperson Kwara Kekana.

The mini sub-station supplies electricity to the department’s tunnel washers at factory B.

The affected laundromat provides services to 10 hospitals and 69 clinics in the Tshwane district.

These hospitals include the Dr George Mukhari academic and Steve Biko academic hospitals.

Kekana said the department strongly condemned the “brazen” theft at the mini sub-station.

As a result of the power supply interruption, she said laundry services were diverted from Tshwane to Johannesburg laundries and the Dunswart laundry facilities in Ekurhuleni.

“A criminal case has been opened with the SAPS at the Akasia police station,” she said.

Kekana said the department of infrastructure and property management engineers had since been on site to assess the damage.

“Preliminary assessment indicates significant damage to the transformers and the substations,” she said.

The infrastructure department was also reportedly working on bringing a boiler back online to ensure there was minimum disruption to linen cleaning and food distribution at the affected hospitals and clinics.

“These measures and others are being put in place as the teams continue to work around the clock to resolve the matter,” Kekana said.

“We plead for patience and understanding during this period.”

Kekana called on members of the community who could have any further information to report it to the police.

Police are yet to comment.