As if being plunged into darkness for hours isn’t enough, residents of Extension 21 in Bethelsdorp are faced with another dilemma: vandals who target substations, specifically during load shedding.
According to Ward 35 councillor, Helga van Staaden, the three substations in Kroneberg Drive are constantly broken into and vandalised. In the most recent incident, residents were left in the dark, even after load shedding, due to one of the substations being damaged.
Since load shedding won’t be a thing of the past any time soon, Van Staaden fears that this vandalism could turn into a vicious cycle, with criminals continuously targeting the substations during these periods.
“It’s very easy for the culprits to break into the substations when it’s dark because they have all the time in the world to get in. They also know it’s safe because there is no active current,” said Van Staaden.
“They pry open the lock quite easily with a spoon and within minutes they have access to everything. They steal the transformers, cables and basically everything they can lay their hands on,” she added.
A community volunteer, Gordon Norris, says the culprits take turns with the three substations in this particular street, targeting a different one each time. “We are concerned that this will be a recurring problem, since load shedding will still continue for some time.”
Van Staaden believes that the only way to curb the vandalism is to secure the substations more efficiently. “The wooden doors are rotten and the locks too easy to pry open. They should invest in metal doors and erect a fence with barbed wire around the substation.”
NMBM spokesperson, Mthubanzi Mniki, says the municipality is aware of the vandalism and that a plan of action has been put into place.
“The municipality is intending to call for tenders regarding security systems for all assets of the NMBM, including substations.
“In addition, the copper cables inside the substation will be replaced with aluminium, which is less attractive to the vandals, where feasible,” said Mniki.
He also added that the earthing conductors would be replaced with either steel or hard drawn copper conductors, which are of less value than pure copper.
“This vandalism is affecting service delivery radically and unfortunately the NMBM has to carry the cost of repairs to the substation equipment. The challenge here is that there seems to be a market for copper by the smaller scrap yard dealers, which still makes dealing with stolen copper cables a lucrative business.”
Mniki said all incidents have been reported to the police.
In a separate incident, a man was seriously injured during an alleged attempted cable theft at the Ditchling substation on Wednesday, February 12, around midnight, according to municipal spokesperson, Kupido Baron.
Municipal workers were called out to investigate a complaint that areas fed by the Ditchling substation did not have electricity at the time of the incident. When they arrived, they discovered an unknown man whose clothes were completely charred from the effect of the 66 000 volt electrical current ripping through his body.
An ambulance was subsequently called.
A similar incident took place in January at the same substation.
The man was electrocuted when he also came into contact with the same 66kV cable. He was hospitalised and subsequently succumbed to his injuries.
