‘We are outraged’: City Power CEO says after technician kidnapped in Lenasia South Ext. 4

A City Power employee was allegedly hijacked and kidnapped on Wednesday in Lenasia South Ext. 4 after being attacked by armed criminals.

Earlier in the day, a team of technicians was conducting operations on site when they were attacked by a group of armed criminals.

Criminals hijacked vehicle with employee

The City of Johannesburg’s power utility said the criminals hijacked the technician’s Toyota Hilux GD6 (registration number: LG 82 DB GP) and took off with one of their employees.

“We are outraged by such a violent crime meted out against our employees while executing their duties,” said City Power chief executive Tshifularo Mashava.

“More than anything, we are concerned about the safety of our employee, who has been kidnapped by these criminals.”

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City Power said it was working with authorities to find the kidnapped technicians and the hijacked vehicle. Psychosocial support had also been offered to the other victims of the incident.

“We urge residents of Lenasia South Ext. 4 and surrounding neighbourhoods to help in providing any information that could lead to the apprehension of the perpetrators and the safe rescue of our employee,” said Mashava.

Safety assessment

City Power was also conducting a safety assessment to determine whether it’s safe for its team to work in the area.

Anyone who has information that will assist in the matter has been urged to contact the police or call City Power Risk Control at 011 490 7900 or 011 490 7911. Alternatively, they can call the City Power anonymous line at 0800 00 25 87.

Communities have been urged by City Power to support its staff as they strive to guarantee that the company will continue to provide them with power services and answer their calls.

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“While we have the option to request escorts from JMPD to enable us to render service to the communities, this is unsustainable and costly and may affect our response times to outages in hostile and volatile areas.”

“We will not hesitate to pull out our teams from any area where their safety is compromised,” said Mashava.

Public officials shot on Monday

The kidnapping of City Power employees comes during the same week as the shooting of public officials from Rand Water at a school event in Zakariyya Park, south of Johannesburg.

A Rand Water official, Teboho Jwala, lost his life after being shot in the head, while the Chief Whip of the Johannesburg Council, Sthembiso Zungu, was still recovering in the hospital after being shot in the leg and arm.

Police are still on the hunt for the suspects who sped away after the gruesome attack.

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