Investigations are underway after four electricians contracted by the City of Ekurhuleni were killed in Germiston, Gauteng, on Monday.

According to the City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, one of the metro’s electricians requested assistance from contractors at Sarel Hattingh Street, Klippoortjie AH, Germiston, after noticing a group of community members on the bridge.

Dlamini said when the electricians approached the scene, the community members picked up the vehicle of the contractors as they were working on-site, threw it over the bridge and set it alight. The community then attacked the contractors and assaulted them with various objects, killing four of them in the process.

“The barbaric murder of these innocent people is strongly condemned by the municipality. What makes the situation worse is that these victims of brutal murder were trying to assist with the stabilisation of electricity in the very same area where they were senselessly attacked,” added Dlamini.

“How on earth do we allow our employees and contractors to move into communities after such a brutal attack? Unfortunately, this will affect our turnaround time to service delivery interruptions because our workers and contractors alike now fear for their lives. We cannot expose them to such risky situations until their safety is guaranteed,” he said.

Dlamini added that the deceased were workers of BMLL, a subcontractor for cable repairs in Germiston. They were dispatched to assist with a cable fault in the area.

Police and the Ekurhuleni metropolitan police department are investigating the matter.