Six people were arrested for cable theft on February 1.
According to City Power, the six were apprehended by security personnel after a tip-off from the community. They had already dug trenches to access the cables when they were caught.
“They told security they were contractors doing a job for City Power. Upon interrogation, however, they failed to produce job cars or City Power ID cards,” said Isaac Mangena, City Power’s spokesperson. “The suspects attempted to bribe the security officers but they duly refused.”
Mangena said three of the suspects attempted to make a run for it but they were apprehended immediately and taken to Honeydew Police Station. They face charges such as damage to and tampering with essential infrastructure and bribery.
“A vehicle the suspects used in the commission of the crime was impounded and tools that include two pickaxes, four shovels and a hacksaw were found at the scene and handed over to the police. When they were arrested the suspects had already dug a trench of about ten metres, and three copper cables were exposed and ready to be spiked, cut and stolen.”
City Power’s acting CEO Tshifularo Mashava welcomed the arrest and praised the collaborative work by the community, the neighbourhood watch, and City Power security. She said, “The issue of cable theft is one of the major contributing factors to the outages we deal with daily across of the City of Johannesburg. We are glad that our security strategy which includes increasing security patrols in the hotspot areas, and partnering with local communities, especially the neighbourhood watch and community policing forums, is bearing fruits. We will intensify the fight against cable theft and vandalism, and our focus will include conducting operations at the scrap yards to ensure that those who buy these stolen materials are punished.”
