He said in a statement that these residents helped to arrest a man who was found cutting and stealing cables from street lights along Pafuri Avenue.

 

 

“These residents arrested the man earlier this morning (December 11) and he was subsequently handed over to the police. The municipality is currently implementing measures to deal with street lights that are affected by theft and vandalism,” he explained.

 

 

Selala urged residents to assist the police and municipality to curb acts of theft and vandalism of service infrastructure.

 

In an earlier statement, Selala said the municipality continues to experience organised criminal activities that involve theft and vandalism of electrical infrastructure including street lights, transformers, mini-substations and cables.

 

“Street lights in the city and Seshego areas are being vandalised and wires stolen on a large scale. These incidents happen at a time when the municipality is implementing measures to deal with street lights repairs as a result of the maintenance backlog. The municipality is progressing in terms of fixing and replacing service infrastructure in areas heavily affected by vandalism and theft,” his statement read.

 

Selala said vandalism hampers the municipality’s efforts of providing ‘quality services to the people’. “Theft and vandalism of service infrastructure also impact negatively on normal lives of the communities and their safety and security. Each financial year, the municipality loses millions of rands as a result of vandalism of service infrastructure including water and electricity,” he concluded.

 

Suspicious activity can be reported to Polokwane Municipality’s Law Enforcement Services on 015 023 5484, the Eskom Toll Free Crime Line on 0800 11 27 22 or SAPS on 10111.