Communities urged to report infrastructure vandals and thieves
Everyone needs to do their part to curb vandalism and theft.
MMC for the Environment and Infrastructure Service Department (EISD), Michael Sun, calls on Joburg communities to play a more active role in 2023 to protect infrastructure.
He said this as the infrastructure remains under siege from vandals and thieves.
Cable theft continued at alarmingly high levels during the festive season, especially following flooding at the beginning of December 2022. City Power continues to battle rampant cable theft in Roodepoort with 17 instances taking place in the last week alone.
In 2022, over 200 Jojo tanks provided by Johannesburg Water to communities to supply areas without formal services were either stolen or vandalised.
“This situation breaks my heart. Cable theft and infrastructure vandalism are killing service delivery across the country. We need communities to work with us this year to ensure we put an immediate stop to this plaque,” he said.
Last year, the EISD launched an infrastructure protection initiative to work alongside neighbourhood watches and other groups to safeguard City Power’s electrical grid. While this initiative had borne fruit, cable theft remains rampant.
“Although our effort with City Power has helped to put 147 cable thieves behind bars during the last six months of 2022 – almost double the amount compared to the previous 12-month period, cable theft is still far too high with instances occurring daily.
“This year we are going to redouble our efforts and ensure City Power works in tandem with the law enforcement agencies and shoulder to shoulder with communities to extinguish this horrendous crime against lives, livelihoods and our national stability,” Sun said.
City Power is currently crafting an emergency plan to deal with cable theft immediately which will include adding to its already over R100m security budget among others.
Report it
Joburg Water is also recrafting its approach to the deployment of water tankers. The entity deploys or installs Jojo tanks in communities as a last resort or alternative solution when conventional tap water cannot be supplied.
However, this cannot be reliably continued at the rate these units are disappearing in communities.
“It is very seldom that information about incidents of cable thieves and vandals or Jojo tanks disappearing or damaged are shared by the communities in which they occur.
“This is why I am appealing to every Joburger to not sit back and watch our valuable infrastructure be stolen or vandalised only to enrich the criminals living among us. If you see or hear something, report it. Information can be supplied anonymously. Your City needs your help,” Sun said.
To report cable theft to City Power use these 24-hour hotlines 011 490 7900/11, 011 490 7553. Alternatively, Whatsapp 083 579 4497.
To report vandalism or theft of Joburg Water infrastructure use this anonymous line +27 80 000 2587.
