Residents resort to rubble to cover cable theft in Centurion
“We are going to place wire on top of the electrical cables then fill the trench up a metre high in order to make it difficult for cable thieves to dig cable out,” says a resident.
Residents of ward 69 and 70 in Centurion have resorted to covering the underground cable lines with rubble in an effort to curb cable theft in the area.
Ward 70 resident Gerhard van Wyk told Rekord the idea came as there was a scourge of cable theft in the area.
Van Wyk said the further cover would make it difficult for thieves to get to the cable.
“We are going to place wire on top of the electrical cables then fill the trench up a metre high in order to make it difficult for cable thieves to dig cable out,” he added.
Van Wyk said this was a temporary measure while they come up with a more permanent solution.
He said a permanent solution at this point was of no use anyway as the target area for their intervention was private property.
“We can’t cover cable with cement as at some stage, the cables will have to be re-routed for development. So there is no use for Tshwane metro to spend a lot of money securing the cables.”
Ward 69 councillor Cindy Billson said they would rope in security companies in the area to offer a helping hand in their quest to curb cable theft.
Billson said these companies were prepared to provide the community with CCTV cameras to monitor the target area.
“These cameras will be on pilot so that they monitor the movements or any suspicious activities in the area. They have also committed themselves that they will come out and patrol the area,” the councillor added.
Billson said if the community does not secure the area and cables, it will continue suffer power outages as a result.
She thanked community members for coming up with such a great initiative to make sure state property was well taken care of and safeguarded at all times.
Ward 70 councillor, Marika Kruger Muller said cable theft was a serious concern as it has a huge financial impact on the municipality and the community at large as it meant that they will use generators more.
“Power is more off than on and when we’ve got load-shedding, especially from 22:00 to midnight or 02:00 then we have cable theft here. There are a lot of residents that complain and we complain because everybody is inconvenienced by this,” she said.
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