All electricity teams at the Soshanguve Depot in Pretoria have seized operations due to safety concerns after a Tshwane metro systems operator based at the depot was hijacked and held hostage by unknown assailants who tried to force him to restore electricity to the northern parts of Soshanguve that were experiencing a power outage.

The metro says in a statement that the operator managed to escape his captors.

“The city strongly condemns this criminal behaviour in any part of the municipality and the perpetrators of this despicable behaviour should know the consequences of their actions. All teams operating from the Soshanguve Depot have been grounded to safeguard the plant, equipment and personnel,” the metro says.

The metro warns that the continuous harassment and robberies of city officials on duty will only harm residents as service delivery will be hindered.

Residents are called upon to protect city officials that are called for infrastructure maintenance in their area.

“The city appeals to members of the community to cease intimidating, assaulting and threatening its officials or damaging the city’s assets and infrastructure components. If some sections of the community continue with this thuggish behaviour, they will make it difficult for our officials to respond to service delivery interruptions.”

Security personnel from the Tshwane Metro Police Department have been requested to patrol Soshanguve Block KK and Soshanguve Block F Depots to prevent any further attacks.