The City’s Energy Directorate has implemented a number of interventions to tackle the scourge of energy infrastructure theft and vandalism. One such intervention is conducting ride-alongs with the City’s Metal Theft Unit (MTU) as they crack down on cable thieves and infrastructure vandals. The City established an Energy Safety Team and boosted boots on the ground with additional security, but community partnerships are key to beating criminals.
‘The City is serious about tackling energy vandalism and theft in all areas across the metro. Our boots on the ground approach is paying off with a person apprehended just last week in connection with the tampering of the City’s electricity metering infrastructure.
‘Recent data shows a total of 242 theft and vandalism incidents reported, with Area South most impacted, between April and June 2024. In that same period, some R7,3 million was spent by the City to fix theft and vandalised infrastructure, with the majority of that spent on repairing public lighting. This extreme crisis situation has led to the City putting many interventions in place to enable energy teams to fix infrastructure faster and also to reduce the risks of theft and vandalism. We urge residents to stand with us to Protect Their Power.
‘We’ve launched an anonymous tip off campaign called Let’s ACT – Protect Your Power – calling on Capetonians to report suspicious activity near infrastructure to us. We’ve added more boots on the ground with our Energy Safety Teams and upped funding to the tune of some R40 million to address this crisis. More security escorts are out with our teams as they attend to outages caused by theft and illegal connections.
‘Zooming out to longer-term solutions, we’re replacing the copper material with aluminium, where possible, to reduce the street value, rolling out more and more underground cabling where feasible, increasing CCTV monitoring and looking at more innovative options to be rolled out soon. We are arranging enhanced engagements, education and awareness drives with communities across the metro. We thank our teams for their work and community members for their support. We can only protect our power if we work together,’ said the City’s Energy Mayco Member, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.
Let’s ACT to protect our power!
Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre: 021 480 7700. The SAPS remains the lead authority in crime prevention.
