Concern over involvement of armed gangs in Mulbarton vandalism, cable theft
Johannesburg City Power says it is working on a solution to the cable theft problem in Mulbarton, south of Johannesburg.
The theft has led to continuous power outages in the area.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says cable theft is mostly to blame for the outages.
“Since January there have been 28 outages affecting Mulbarton substation. Only four of those outages were due to planned maintenance, with the rest due to cable theft.
“The situation is exacerbated by the fact that most of our servitudes’ run through open velds which makes them vulnerable to theft. Hotspots include Impala and Kliprivier roads, and around Mulbarton Hospital.
“The situation is getting very dangerous with heavily armed gangs involved in vandalism and theft.”
Mangena says the utility wants the community involved in coming up with possible solutions.
“City Power is adopting a community-centred approach to dealing with vandalism and theft, whereby community is central to the protection of the infrastructure serving them.
“City Power has increased security capacity around our installations in Mulbarton to ensure we curb the theft in the area. This includes armed response and patrols on our servitudes and overall network.”
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