POLOKWANE – Praise from the city’s business sector as well as residents has gone out to the Polokwane Municipality for ensuring that the enormous power failure experienced last week lasted for only a day, in spite of major repairs having to be done.
A large part of the city was left without power last week after nine electricity cables of some 100 metres each were stolen at the Alpha sub-sation on the Matlala road.
Municipal spokesperson Matshidiso Mothapo said 14 staff members and two Eskom technicians were able to replace the cables and repair the damage in record time. He said 18 cable joints and nine operating settings had to be repaired.
Some cables were recovered a few metres from where the theft took place but they could not be used as the power would have taken longer to be restored had they done so, Mothapo said.
He said the cables had a replacement value of around R400 per metre, costing the municipality approximately R360 000 to replace, excluding labour and other costs. These were not the only losses caused by the theft. Hundreds of thousands of rands were also lost by business people as they were unable to conduct business without electricity.
“The theft is currently under investigation by the police.” Mothapo further said a total of R2,5 million was lost in 2011/12 due to cable theft costing the municipality an additional R1,8 million to replace and repair.
He said even though the number of cable theft incidents had decreased, this crime still remained a serious concern.
Residents were requested to report any suspicious activity related to the theft of electricity cables and other municipal infrastructure to the police.
“Vandalism denies our communities basic services and cost everyone a lot of money,” Mothapo said. He thanked Eskom for their assistance as well as making their technicians available to assist in getting the power supply up and running.
• Residents were unable to contact the municipal traffic department telephonically during the power failure as the generator at the traffic station was faulty.
