Despite residents of the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) facing cable theft daily, the city does not keep records of cable theft or how much cable theft costs the city every month.
This was revealed in replies to questions asked by the DA in both Parliament and Council.
While large areas of the CoE are continuously plunged into darkness due to repeated cable theft, resulting in residents’ lives being disrupted for lengthy periods as well as many factories standing idle and people losing their jobs, the City has a “could not care less’ attitude.
With over 42% of all South Africans unemployed, you would have thought that the ANC/EFF coalition would do everything in their power to keep the lights on and keep people in work. This is, however, not the case.
When asked about the number of incidents, of cable theft, in ward 73 over the past 12 months, the EFF MMC of Energy, Cllr Molebatsi, said: “The Energy department is not able to provide a breakdown of cable theft as it forms part of forced unplanned outages and repairs are funded from the same vote number that will be used for “normal’ interruptions in supply”.
Shockingly, the City does not keep records of cable theft to identify high-risk areas, as well as the cost to the city and subsequently to develop a strategy to combat this scourge.
In addition, when asked about cases of cable theft, being reported to the police, the reply given was even more shocking. For the entire 2023, a dismal 17 cases of cable theft were reported to the police, despite the recurring incidents. This is an absolute disgrace. As a temporary measure, I also asked, as a temporary measure, whether the concrete structures that have been left along the N12 at the Atlas off-ramp since 2010 could be used for placing on top of electricity cables in hot-spot areas.
I will be submitting follow-up questions in Council about the scheduling of the roll-out of the early warning alarms which are linked to the EMPD and service providers’ control rooms. Ward 73 has been neglected for too long under the failing ANC/EFF coalition and it is high time that the City gives it much-needed attention.