Stolen equipment recovered after vandalism at Rooihuiskraal Substation
Electricity was successfully restored to homes after residents spent about four hours without power on Tuesday.
The Rooihuiskraal Substation was vandalised in the early hours of Tuesday, which resulted in a power outage for residents in the area.
Ward councillor Alta de Kock said the incident occurred between 02:00 and 04:00, when the thieves stole essential equipment, including a breaker and cables, leading to extensive damage at the substation.
“It was fortunate that the Community Policing Forum (CPF) managed to recover the stolen equipment, including the old breaker, which would have been challenging to replace.”
Image: Supplied
De Kock said the substation normally feeds two lines but was temporarily reduced to one due to the vandalism.
“Fire safety was also a concern during the incident, as oil spillage prompted the involvement of the fire brigade.
They were scared of a fire as well,” she added.
De Kock said the electricity supply was successfully restored after residents spent about four hours without power.
“The power came back on around 10:00.
The city’s electricians did an amazing job of taking everybody over to the other line,” she added.
De Kock thanked the CPF for helping to get all the stolen equipment back.
According to Gordon Klopper, the head of operations at Wierdbrug Sector 2 CPF, initial investigations suggested that it might have been a routine substation trip, but further enquiries revealed otherwise.
“Upon numerous complaints, we started investigating, knowing the usual places where cables are stolen,” Klopper explained.
He said their investigation took a turn when they discovered an open door at the Rooihuiskraal substation.
“When we entered, we found clear evidence of vandalism, including footprints and oil spills that indicated tampering.
We also realised that a circuit breaker was taken.”
Klopper said the recovered circuit breaker was found about 100m away from the substation, where it appeared the suspects had attempted to strip it of its valuable copper components.
“It looked like they tried to start stripping it from their side,” he said.
He said the circuit breaker contains nearly 70kg of copper and is of significant value to the thieves at an estimated R150/kg.
Klopper suggested that the theft likely involved multiple suspects.
“There must have been at least two suspects in doing the crime because there’s no way that that circuit breaker could be picked up by one person.”
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