East cable theft ‘hotspot’ hit again
Residents of Groenkloof and Muckleneuk and surrounding areas were left in the dark for hours after a cable was stolen on Elandspoort Road near the University of South Africa (Unisa).
A cable theft “hotspot” in the east of Pretoria was not spared this past week when thieves infiltrated the area in Muckleneuk on Wednesday.
Residents of Groenkloof and Muckleneuk and surrounding areas were left in the dark for hours after a cable was stolen on Elandspoort Road near the University of South Africa (Unisa).
“When a cable is stolen in this area it doesn’t only affect residents, hospitals are involved, old age homes, universities, clinics, hospices and orphanages,” ward councillor Shaun Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson said the area on the western boundary of Unisa, was prone to cable theft which often saw 2-10 metres of long cables stolen.
Most of the time two or three cables were stolen at a time.
“This has happened about 15 times at the same area in a period of four years,” he said.
On average repairs take around 8-10 hours before the electricity is restored, affecting businesses and hospitals in the area.
“I will be meeting with the university’s management to see if we can’t find alternatives or a solution to this.”
Wilkinson said cable theft was a major problem in many parts of Pretoria.
In Kilnerpark a suspected cable thief was shot and killed by a “community patroller” a week ago.
It was alleged that the suspect took out an object from his pocket and the community patroller fired a shot with his private firearm hitting him in the head.
The man was taken to Steve Biko academic hospital where he later died. Four more suspects were arrested.
On Friday two men were suspected of stealing more than half a ton of cables at the Daspoort train station in Sinovich Drive and Herman Street.
During the lockdown, power stations had become targets of cable theft and vandalism.
The Tshwane metro reported that the vandalism of municipal infrastructure and theft of cables had left it with a staggering bill.
In the 2017/2018 financial year, cable theft and infrastructure vandalism cost the metro R5-million a month.
The metro previously said cable theft and vandalism posed a threat to taxpayers as huge amounts of money had been invested into fixing municipal infrastructure.
It said it usually found itself having to use funds that were meant to be chandelled towards other service delivery needs, to fixing damaged cables.
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