VIDEO: Eskom attending to illegal connections in the north
In the video circulating on social media, a man explains that in the Ga-Rankuwa community, members complain about load-shedding, but have failed to report an illegal connection at a transformer.
Eskom says it is attending to the exposed live wires that allegedly feed electricity to an informal settlement near the Ga-Rankuwa industrial area.
The power utility said it was disturbed to note a video on social media showing live wires from an illegal Eskom transformer connection.
The wires allegedly lead to a neighbouring community in the industrial area.
According to reports, two substations have been illegally connected to Ga-Rankuwa Zone 15.
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Eskom Gauteng spokesperson Amanda Qithi said the power utility was giving the videos the urgency and attention required.
Qithi said such connections were high-risk and posed a significant safety hazard to the community.
“The practices do not only affect those conducting these criminal acts but often children who fall victim to such illegal activities, which was recently brought to Eskom’s attention.
“Illegal connections involve unauthorised individuals connecting or tapping into the power grid or transformer, in this case, without approval from the service provider.”
“This is a prevalent problem in many parts of Gauteng, particularly in informal settlements.”
She said Eskom had employed various measures to avert equipment failures that led to unplanned and extended outages affecting law-abiding, paying customers and community service points such as healthcare and education facilities, businesses, and the economy at large.
She said the measures were to combat illegal connections, theft and vandalism of the electricity infrastructure.
“Even with all controls in place, Eskom continues to experience high incidents of theft and vandalism of its electricity infrastructure, which is beyond what Eskom can handle.
“Communities in areas with illegal connections tend to become hostile towards our technicians when they remove these wires.”
She said Eskom was concerned that many communities were also involved in fuelling the crime as illegal connections would be reconnected in just a short time after their removal.
“As part of our ongoing drive to fight and prevent incidents such as the ones portrayed in the video, Eskom partners and collaborates with community members, security companies, business forums, CPFs, police and other law enforcement agencies to reduce electricity-related crimes.”
In the footage, the man believed to be behind the video – Thulani Ngobeni – says while the Ga-Rankuwa complains about load-shedding, it has failed to report the illegal connection.
Ngobeni alleged that the connections feed an informal settlement and law enforcement has turned a blind eye.
He further claimed that Ga-Rankuwa is riddled with such connections, “which is unfortunate as lives are at stake”.
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