The City of Cape Town has spent more than R44.5 million on electrical infrastructure theft and vandalism repairs in the first half of the current financial year, as ongoing criminality continues to plague municipal services.
The expenditure, covering the period up to January 2026, represents money that could otherwise have been allocated to infrastructure maintenance and capital projects, according to city officials.
Mayco member for energy, Xanthea Limberg, said theft, illegal connections and vandalism pose safety risks to residents while leaving communities and roadways in darkness.
“Theft, illegal connections and vandalism of electrical infrastructure is a safety risk to residents and continues to plague Cape Town neighbourhoods. This is money that could have been spent elsewhere to maintain existing infrastructure and on other capital projects, among others. It is just not sustainable,” she said. “Various anti-vandalism projects continue to be rolled out, including undergrounding of cabling where possible, replacing copper cables with less valuable materials, fitting anti-vandalism technology to some of the infrastructure and clamping down on illegal scrapyards.”
According to Limberg, the City has spent approximately R76.3 million in the previous financial year on electricity infrastructure maintenance and replacement.
“Unfortunately, often as soon as infrastructure has been fixed or replaced, it is vandalised again. The City has deployed security to monitor hotspot areas where possible, replacing copper with alternative material which has a lower street value and we are piloting innovative infrastructure protection tech solutions.”
Protect your power
Limberg continued, saying City electricity teams are actively working in various areas across the metro as part of the City’s year-round public lighting programme. She said the City maintains a network of more than 245 000 streetlights through significant investment, including a R75.5 million streetlight capital budget for the 2025/26 financial year.
The municipality subsequently launched “Protect Your Power,” described as a first-of-its-kind campaign highlighting the impact of vandalism, theft and illegal connections. “We call on residents to fight the scourge alongside our teams by being our neighbourhood partners, keeping eyes and ears open against criminality and by reporting all suspicious behaviour near electricity infrastructure to the City and police,” Limberg added.
Residents are urged to report suspicious activity anonymously to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre (PECC – 021 480 7700) or to the City’s ‘Copperheads’ toll-free line (0800 222 771), while the police remains responsible for crime prevention.
Municipal officials have cautioned that addressing the crisis will demand ongoing measures and public partnership to safeguard vital infrastructure, following substantial financial losses and repeated attacks on electrical systems.
