- Mitchells Plain is facing rising streetlight vandalism, leading to increased crime and power outages.
- Councillor Solomon Philander has urged residents to report suspicious activity and avoid purchasing stolen goods.
- The City of Cape Tow calls for community support to stop the cycle of vandalism and theft.
There has been a notable rise in infrastructure vandalism, contributing to general crime.
Ward 116 councillor and Subcouncil 12 chair, Solomon Philander, has raised the alarm around the escalation of crime impacting the community with compromised public safety as a result of vandalised street lights.
“Escalation in crime is evident in our community. When streetlights are vandalised it impacts on the very people who are walking to and from public transport to get to work or health centres in the early hours of the morning and returning home late,” says Philander.
The continued vandalism also results in residential properties without electricity for hours or even days as officials battle to restore connections.
Continued vandalism
Mitchells Plain is one of the leading areas for streetlight vandalism, the City of Cape Town notes.
Recently, highlighting the severity of vandalism across the metro, close to 7 000 streetlight-related faults were fixed between Wednesday 14 and Tuesday 27 August in Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu and other areas.
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Energy Mayco member Xanthea Limberg described the vandalism at “crisis-levels”, but says new interventions continue to make communities brighter and safer.
“The sheer volume of streetlight-related notifications that we are attending to is proof that our interventions are making a real difference despite the crisis-levels of repeated vandalism and theft that cause streetlight outages,” she says in a statement.
“Our additional contracting teams, more security and Energy Safety Team deployments are helping. We urge our customers to be part of the solution and let us know if they see any suspicious activity related to tampering, illegal connections, vandalism and theft of electrical infrastructure.”
Residents responsibility
Philander says the cable theft occurs at night and calls on residents to play their part.
“When will we see these culprits brought to book?“Somewhere there’s a parent that knows his or her child is not in bed in the early hours of the morning,” he says.
“In other instances people’s properties get broken into and culprits get away with it.
“The very sad reality is, the very stolen goods are bought by people living in the community.”
According to police, under section 38 of the General Law Amendment Act: “Any person who is found in possession of any goods to which there is reasonable suspicion that they have been stolen and is unable to give a satisfactory account of such possession, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to the penalties which may be imposed on a conviction of theft.”
Property-related crimes such as theft, housebreaking, shoplifting, handbag or cellphone snatching and theft out of a motor vehicle is often how these goods are obtained.
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Philander continues that residents should refrain from purchasing stolen goods, urging caution when being sold items from random persons at your door or intersections.
“You may think it is a bargain to buy the item, not thinking of the loss of others. I urge people not to buy from the door, you are enabling theft and breaking the community down,” he says.
“If you buy random goods from someone who is trying to sell clothing, food items, household goods or appliances for a very cheap price, you should know that the goods are stolen goods and you are enabling the person to steal more.”
