13 May 2022
Joburg City Power said that its infrastructure in the Eldorado Park area had been under attack by criminals targeting copper cables, with more than 10 underground cables stolen this week alone.
One of those was a 25-metre cable in the Nancefield area, which has since been replaced.
On Thursday, City Power confirmed the arrest of one person, employed by a contractor working at the Eldorado Park sub-station, for cable theft.
The utility’s Isaac Mangena said: “The employee had three copper cables in the bakkie. He was arrested by the security. In total, we had about 10 underground copper cables stolen in the last two days in three separate incidents around the Eldorado Park area. We have always maintained that we don’t rule out the involvement of our staff or even contractors.”
Last month, Eldorado Park residents were plunged into darkness following a fire at the sub-station, which saw technicians battle for over a week to restore power.
Mangena said that the continued vandalism and cable theft in the Lenasia, Eldorado Park area continued to affect the supply of electricity to consumers.
Source: Ewn
