Cable theft: R52m in six months

Incidents of cable theft in the Roodepoort region have cost City Power R52 million over the past six months.

According to City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, there have been 109 incidents of cable theft and vandalism of mini-substations throughout the region in the last six months.

“The latest major incident was reported at Mechanical Workshop Switching Station where a man died after being electrocuted while fiddling with the live network,” said Mangena.

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“This incident alone cost the entity over R12 million. In total, the 109 incidents of cable theft and vandalism have cost the entity over R52 million.”

According to Mangena, City Power has begun to replace copper cables that are prone to be stolen with new aluminium cables that hold virtually no value on the black market.

“Cable theft and vandalism remain a challenge though, and we once again appeal to customers to assist in reporting any suspicious activity around our network so we can win the fight against theft and vandalism – and keep a steady supply of electricity.”

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According to Roodepoort Service Delivery Centre’s general manager Sibusiso Xulu, the aluminium cables are not quite as effective as copper cables, forcing the entity to use much thicker cables to carry the same load.

“We’ve recently completed the installation of two 2.2km cables between the Christiaan de Wet and Wilgeheuwel Substations in a bid to address outage challenges linked with cable theft.”

Xulu adds that there are plans for another two cables to be installed from Christiaan de Wet to Wilgeheuwel Substations along another route, though he has not specified a timeline for the project.

“We have partnered with private security companies to help curb the scourge of vandalism and theft, and we encourage communities to report any suspicious activity to the 24-hour Risk Control on 011 490 7900.”