North residents grease poles to fight cable theft

Pretoria North community members greased 300 electricity poles last weekend in an effort to fight cable theft in the area.

This project is being spearheaded by Ornell Van Zyl, Ferdi Hoffman, Chris de Jager, Vossie Vosloo, Frik Bronkhorst and Nikki de Jager.

“The greasing of poles has been proven effective as the thieving of cables is reduced,” said community member Nikki de Jager.

De Jager said they aim to grease all the poles in the North.

“We are prioritising hotspots.

“We want to grease all the poles in the area. In this way cable theft will be eradicated meaning prolonged power-outages will end.”

CABLE THEFT A HUGE PROBLEM

De Jager asked the community for help.

“We are tired of the cable theft and we need to bring other prevention methods into play.

“The local CPF patrols all the areas but patrolling alone seems not to stop these thieves,” De Jager said.

“We have had a few incidents of cable theft since this project started.

“We will engage the metro police cable theft unit to work with us in this regard because it has become a huge issue,” De Jager said.

De Jager pleaded for people to become sponsors so they can finish the campaign.

“We are asking for donations from the community and businesses to help us buy more grease so that we paint all poles in the area.

“We also ask those who have old grease and not going to use it to kindly donate it. We want to make this project a success.

“We are also working on backup strategies in case this one fails,” she said.

Anyone willing to assist can contact Ornell van Zyl on 073 858 6329.

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