Vandalism is one of the biggest reasons why residents of Secunda, Trichardt, Bethal, eMzinoni, Kinross and surrounding areas were without electricity for days over the past few weeks.
After criminals targeted a mini substation in Carolus Street in Trichardt, just the box was left.
At the beginning of September, Bethal residents in the area of Station Road and the industrial area faced the same issue when a mini substation behind the licensing office in Bethal was vandalised.
Bethal residents suffered again after a mini substation in Vuyisile Mini Street was vandalised last week.
Secunda and Kinross residents also felt the brunt last week when criminals targeted a mini substation near Highveld Park High School and OK Foods in Secunda and two mini substations in Kinross.
After they vandalised the mini substation, a temporary transformer in McKay Street in Secunda exploded and just made matters worse for residents and electricians of Govan Mbeki Municipality.
The CBD in Secunda was also left in the dark after vandals struck.
The ordeal which began on Monday night after the mini substation was vandalised, continued until Thursday, September 16, when a mini substation in Bethal was replaced and most of the ones in Secunda were repaired.
Residents in the areas of Sunset Park and Charl Cilliers Street were also affected by Tuesday, September 14 when another electricity outage occurred.
Municipal workers battled to get spares to fix ring sub 2 that was vandalised.
DA councillor, Ms Mariaan Chamberlain, asked residents for help with floodlights or any lighting while the team was working on this substation.
Talisman jumped in and helped with floodlights and Ms Chamberlain thanked them for their support.
The electricity was eventually restored by Thursday after municipal electricians managed to fix things.
A local security company, SSS offered to help curb the problem with vandalism in the Govan Mbeki municipal area.
They offered to install alarms at all the main and most important substations in Secunda and also monitor the alarms free of charge.
They will meet with the municipality this week to make an official offer and discuss possibilities.
Ms Chamberlain thanked the management team of SSS for this generous offer.
Mr Donald Green, spokesman of Govan Mbeki Municipality, said these acts of vandalism compromises the municipality’s attempts to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to consumers.
The Ridge Times also asked Mr Green how much it costs the municipality to maintain the mini substations monthly, what the municipality plans on doing about the vandalism issues they are currently facing, what are the financial losses the municipality incurred due to vandalism over the past three months, if the municipality reported these acts of vandalism to the police and what happens to the culprits and if they are ever caught, why it is so easy for criminals to vandalise the substations and how it is possible for them not to get electrocuted while they are fiddling and working with live electricity.
The question was also asked if the municipality has any idea of what happens to the cables these criminals steal and who are the buyers.
The comment will be published in next week‘s edition.
