Cable theft is on the rise and, for the past month, has had frustrated residents of Sir Lowry’s Pass, who at times have to wait several hours after load shedding to have power restored, in a spin.
The situation has significantly worsened over the past month, with Eskom confirming there has been consistent electricity supply disruptions as a result of cable theft over the past few weeks.
“In October alone there were three incidents of [reported] cable theft and vandalism on Saturday 1 October, Tuesday 4 October and Wednesday, 19 October,” Eskom said in a statement.
“The frequency of cable theft related incidents [occurs] almost on a weekly basis.”
The cost involving the repairs in Sir Lowry’s Pass alone sits at approximately R45 000 due to cable theft in during October, it added.
Local resident Lionel Woods claimed the community is helpless against the scourge of crime and had exhausted all options to resolve the situation.
“The most we can do is report the issue to Eskom, which replies with reference numbers and tells us a technician will be on site,” he explained.
“We continuously lose electricity supply and have to wait for hours on end for the repairs to be done. The whole situation is just unacceptable.”
There were also reports of a small crowd of protestors who closed a street in Sir Lowry’s Pass as a result of another power outage at the weekend, but it is believed the group later dispersed without causing much disruption in the area.
According to Woods, frustration continues to grow among affected and irate residents. “People are just fed-up with the outages and I just don’t know how much longer we can tolerate this,” he said.
Another resident, who spoke on condition of anonimity, described the situation residents often find themselves in as “extremely unbearable”, alleging criminals have, at times, become so brazen that the cables are being cut even when the electricity supply is on.
“At times the Eskom reporting lines are down, which exacerbates the problem,” the resident claimed.
“We have resorted to guarding their infrastructure – you cover your street as best you can whenever there is load shedding. I don’t want to vent, however, this problem is causing much frustration for those affected and it will come to a point that if someone is caught in the act by the community, he or she will bear the brunt for all the previous incidents.”
Eskom further confirmed it is aware of the concerns of Sir Lowry’s Pass residents and appealed to the public to report electricity theft such as illegal connections, tampering, cable theft and the vandalising of infrastructure.
V Residents can report incidents by contacting the Eskom toll-free crime hotline on 0800 112 722 or the local police station. Callers may remain anonymous if they so choose.
