Cape Town is strengthening measures to protect its electricity network after spending approximately R75 million repairing and replacing infrastructure damaged by vandalism and theft during the 2025/26 financial year.
The City’s Energy Directorate is expanding anti-vandalism interventions across affected communities, including installing alternative materials with lower resale value, undergrounding cables where feasible and deploying security resources in identified hotspots.
The investment is aimed at reducing repeated damage to electricity infrastructure while protecting funding that could otherwise be directed towards network upgrades, expansion and other essential services.
“Vandalism, theft and illegal electricity connections continue to place immense strain on the metro’s electricity network and the City’s resources,” said Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.
By June 2026, the City had spent more than R75 million repairing and replacing infrastructure affected by criminal activity.
The financial impact is being felt across communities. Approximately R11.5 million was spent in the City’s northern areas, including Vanguard, Mowbray, the City and Atlantis, while almost R11 million was spent across Mitchells Plain, Wynberg and Muizenberg.
In the eastern areas, including Helderberg, Oostenberg and Bloemhof, expenditure reached almost R6 million, while approximately R2.9 million was spent in central areas including Gugulethu and Parow. The figures exclude public lighting and transmission infrastructure.
A recent example at the Kapteinsklip train station precinct demonstrates the cost of restoring individual sites.
Energy teams completed repairs and upgrades after electricity cables, streetlight poles and associated fittings were damaged or stolen, contributing to service disruptions and reduced public lighting.
Restoring infrastructure at the site cost more than R800 000.
Limberg said these resources could instead have been directed towards maintaining, upgrading and expanding essential infrastructure.
The City is responding through a combination of infrastructure redesign, technology, security and law-enforcement partnerships.
Where feasible, electricity cables are being placed underground, while copper conductors are being replaced with materials that have less value in the illegal scrap market.
Anti-vandalism technology is also being installed on key infrastructure, while law-enforcement agencies are targeting illegal scrapyards and security resources are being deployed in hotspot areas where possible.
The City’s Protect Your Power campaign is additionally encouraging communities to become part of the response by reporting vandalism, electricity theft, illegal connections and suspicious activity.
“We ask all residents to help us protect our communities and our public assets by reporting suspicious activity, theft and vandalism,” Limberg said.
The challenge extends beyond the financial cost of replacing stolen cables and damaged equipment. Repeated attacks on electricity infrastructure can leave communities without power, reduce public lighting and divert resources away from longer-term infrastructure development.
Protecting existing infrastructure therefore forms an important part of maintaining reliable services while allowing available investment to be directed towards improving and expanding Cape Town’s electricity network.
Residents can report suspicious activity to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700, while illegal scrapyards can be reported anonymously to the Copperheads on 0800 222 771. Electricity and streetlight faults can be reported on 0860 103 089, via SMS to 31220 or WhatsApp on 060 018 1505.
