Cable thieves infuriate residents in Margate
Resident believe that a syndicate is behind the theft of cables within the Margate area.
Residents of Winston Avenue, Margate have experienced a great deal of inconvenience due to power cables being stolen and being without electricity for days.
Home owners have had problems with cable theft since 2017, but recently it has been an ongoing problem where cables that had been stolen and replaced the next day were stolen again the same night.
Ward 6 councillor, Jean Schmidt said he feels sad for the residents as this area is hit frequently. “Not much is being done by the police or law enforcement to catch these guys stealing cables. What’s quite disturbing is that we noticed that the cables are not deep enough in the ground. This is making it easy for the thieves to come back and dig up and remove the new cables.”
Theo Fourie a resident on Winston Avenue said Eskom is not interested in getting this resolved. “If Eskom is taking cable theft seriously, why are they not opening cases and reporting to the police. If they did were are the court cases? ”
“When we called the police we were told that police couldn’t find Winston Avenue. I know we don’t have signboards but a simple Google maps search on a cellphone could have brought them to the scene sooner. We have to resort to security companies to protect us,” said one resident.
Residents say the uncovered trenches is a huge problem as someone can get electrocuted and leaving it open makes it easier for the thieves to come back and remove the cables.
On Tuesday this week residents confirmed that the trenches were still not covered.
Eskom acknowledged the Herald’s request for comment, however none was received before going to print.
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