Nellmapius residents form patrols to fight cable theft

Nellmapius residents have formed a neighbourhood watch to fight cable theft in the area after they were stuck without any electricity for almost three days.

The watch was formed following an urgent public meeting called by ward 86 councillor Kgolofelo to come up with ideas to tackle power outages in Nellmapius extensions 2, 4 and N4 Gateways.

She said the neighbourhood watch will patrol the area in both day and night shifts.

“Cable theft has been a problem for almost two decades now and the Tshwane metro and metro police have failed to do anything about it,” she said.

“For years the outages had damaged residents’ electric appliances and spoilt their groceries; yet, the metro had failed to come up with a permanent solution to prevent cable theft.”

She said the reflectors the patrollers would wear were sponsored and pleaded with local businesses to help pay the patrollers.

Kgopotso said criminals helped themselves to a cable at the isolated veld near Nellmapius extension 1, where there is no police visibility.

She said the patrols created job opportunities for more than 20 unemployed residents – young and old – in the affected areas.

She said the metro lost a lot of money replacing stolen cables but is failing to come up with a permanent solution.

“The metro police have started patrolling with us, but we are appealing to them that this is not a once-off thing – they must continue patrolling day and night,” she said.

Resident Sally Makhubela said cable theft has been a problem for years.

“Councillors have tried everything to fix the problem,” she said.

“We have been complaining to councillor after councillor but the metro is doing nothing about the situation except replace the stolen cable two or three days later.

“It does not help because criminals will come back and steal the cables at night and we wake up again without electricity.

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“We need a permanent solution to the issue of cable theft,” said Makhubela.

Resident Andries Mokone said buying monthly groceries was just a waste of money.

“The groceries just end up in the rubbish bin,” he said.

“We demand a permanent solution to the problem because the neighbourhood watch is not a permanent solution.”

He added that their forming a neighbourhood watch does not mean that the metro should fold its arms and say the issue of cable theft has been resolved.

Community safety MMC Ald Grandi Theunissen said cable theft was a serious crime that negatively affects the metro’s ability to provide a consistent electricity supply to Tshwane residents.

“We recently had a meeting with our crime prevention stakeholders including the CPF, private security companies, SAPS and metro police to coordinate our efforts in the fight against cable theft,” said Theunissen.

“This multi-stakeholder engagement was aimed at ensuring that we pull all available resources to protect our electrical infrastructure.

“Cable theft is a major problem that affects all regions of Tshwane.

“During the meeting, we addressed challenges of communication and coordination between private security companies, the CPF and law enforcement to ensure the successful prosecution of culprits.”

He said cable theft also affected the already stretched budget as millions of rand are required to replace stolen cables.

“It is therefore important that we unite with stakeholders, residents and all spheres of government to fight this scourge,” he said.

“In the 2022/23 financial year budget, the City allocated R10-million to our metro police cable theft unit to further capacitate it with technology and[other] tools to fight cable theft.

“Our coalition government is committed to engaging and working with all communities to coordinate efforts and resources to keep our city safe,” he said.

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