It is no secret that the scourge of cable theft is costing the City millions of rand and hampering service delivery to innocent rate-paying residents.
This persistent matter, which has reared its ugly head across the metro, doesn’t seem to be an easy battle to fight, as was evident when several ward councillors invited residents to a meeting on 12 November – a meeting focused entirely on issues surrounding cable theft.
The meeting, held at the Roodepoort Civic Centre, afforded the residents the opportunity to put their questions to the City stakeholders, in particular the representative of City Power’s Risk Department, Buks Badenhorst, the area manager under security risk management.
Although tensions were relatively high as residents demanded detailed information which was either not available to the stakeholders, or was simply something they could not divulge, most questions concerning cable theft were addressed.
Read here:
https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/309373/update-on-power-outage-affecting-ruimsig-and-surrounds/
Speaking to the Northsider, Badenhorst explained how they planned to combat cable theft. “Currently, through the in-sourcing of security staff, we have some staff in the depots to manage specific security issues on those sites. We also have security contractors that are working on the network – safeguarding substations and conducting planned visits and operations at various hot spots,” he explained.
Where incidents of cable theft have taken place without the presence of law enforcement, residents complained that they weren’t receiving any help from local police stations. This then begged the question of whether cable theft can be reported to the men in blue. Badenhorst responded: “I really don’t understand why residents battle with reporting these matters, because the police are part of what we call the Non-Ferrous Theft Combating Committee (NFTCC), which is a provincial and international forum that each and every station is aware of”.
He added that in areas where there are scrap-metal dealers, the police stations deploy officers called Designated Second-Hand Goods Officers (DSOs) who by law conduct regular inspections.
Badenhorst also reminded residents to verify job-cards carried by City personnel, due to the prevalence of imposters. “Regarding verification, work ID cards differ in colour, but they all have titles; for example, one will state ’employee’ while another could state ‘contractor’. Also, each card has a number which can be used for verification in the control room – a consultant will then clarify whether the job is legitimate or not,” he cautioned.
The MMC for Economic Development and Ward 97 councillor, Leah Knott, added that residents should also report suspicious contractors by reporting the number plates of their vehicles. The complaint can either be confirmed by the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), who will verify the company’s way leave documentation, or through City Power.
Leah laid great emphasis on this, as her ward has recently been plagued by cable theft, resulting in mini-substations blowing up on Van Dalen Street, and causing power outages.
In order to deal with the scourge decisively, Leah encouraged the residents to join Community Policing Forums, where issues pertaining to crime are discussed and escalated to the relevant law enforcement agencies that will then plan a joint investigation operation.
Ward 83 councillor, Florence Roberts, weighed in as well, by urging residents to write to their councillors about municipal-related issues in order for them to be attended to, because if they aren’t reported, nobody will know about them.
Cable theft and illegal connections can be reported to this hotline number: 011 490 7100/ 7911
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