City Power continues their fight against the power syndicates in Kya Sands
Mangena explained that they rely on communities to be part of their Partnership Programmes and protect the electricity network by reporting vandalism or any suspicious activity around electrical infrastructure to their neighbourhood watch, or the South African Police Services (SAPS).
The Randburg Service Delivery Centre (SDC), in partnership with City Power Security Risk Management and law enforcement agencies, confiscated cables worth more than R5m in a joint operation in the Kya Sand informal settlement.
Read more: Copper cables valued at over R100 000 allegedly stolen by a City Power official
The operation was aimed at removing illegal connections, resulting in an estimated 20 000kg of aluminium cable being removed and confiscated.
According to Isaac Mangena, City Power spokesperson, it’s alleged that the syndicate operating in the area has illegally tapped into the entity’s infrastructure.
“They’re connecting residents to different power sources and charging a R300 monthly fee for electricity. The team found that the syndicate used a hidden route through a bush to conceal the cables from the main road and other power supply points, which are not easily visible.”
The increase in illegal connections continues to overload the network and result in frequent outages. The Kya Sands area, as well as surrounding areas, especially the industrial and business areas, are constantly experiencing a high number of power outages resulting from these illegal connections.
Mangena explained that theft, vandalism, and illegal connections continue to unabatedly, and significantly, contribute to the loss of supply to paying customers, as well as revenue for the utility.
Also read: Sonneglans residents bemoan power cables snaking through their streets
“We’re committed to strengthening illegal connection removal strategies and joint operations, including investigating and prosecuting criminal syndicates thriving on illegal connections. Our revenue protection team and law enforcement agencies will continue monitoring the situation in the area, to ensure that no further illegal connections take place.”
He further stated that the entity has taken note of criminal syndicates targeting Aerial Bundle Cables (ABC) found in streetlights. These are durable and accessible cables that are frequently used by syndicates in informal settlements to also illegally connect homes, or taverns, creating what they call a: ‘parallel electricity distribution enterprise’.
“These criminal syndicates seem to have perfect knowledge of our network. Additionally, patterns observed are substations, transformer substations, switching stations, and mini substations are being targeted. The modus operandi indicates that the criminals follow the standard operating procedures for electrical installations when isolating and vandalising this network. This gives a reasonable suspicion to believe that ‘insider threats’ are involved in the commission of these crimes.”
Community members are encouraged to deter from illegal connections. City Power has also developed and implemented an infrastructure security plan that incorporates working with communities and tactical security operations intended to drastically reduce cable theft and vandalism of infrastructure.
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