Suspected cable thief arrested in Alex
Sandringham police have arrested a man suspected of stealing cables in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg.
He was rescued by police after angry members of the community caught the suspect in the act.
The man was injured in the upper body after live cables he was accused of stealing burst in his face.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says the incident happened while technicians were busy doing repairs nearby.
"Technicians were busy on-site trenching to repair a cable fault near the Alexandra Substation when, bizarrely few meters away, the suspect tried to cut and steal copper cable.
"What the suspect was not aware of is that some of the cables were live and supplied electricity to customers at that time of his actions, the cable blew up and burnt the suspect on most of the upper body, including the face.”
Mangena says the neighbourhood has been experiencing prolonged power outages due to cable theft in recent weeks.
"The area near Riverpark and the surroundings is one of the hotspots for cable theft and vandalism, and part of the reason most of the community east of the Jukskei river have gone for almost a week without electricity.
"The suspect has been charged with tampering with, and attempted theft of, essential infrastructure, and other related crimes."
The suspect is under police guard at a local hospital.
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