Residents of Ladybrand are bearing the brunt of repeated cable theft, with attacks on municipal electricity infrastructure leaving households and businesses without power for prolonged periods.
At least 16 incidents of cable theft and vandalism have been reported in Ladybrand since 18 June, forcing the municipality to repeatedly replace damaged infrastructure while residents endure ongoing electricity disruptions.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on Mantsopa Local Municipality to take urgent action against the theft and vandalism.
DA Mantsopa councillor Cllr Erica Moir said the incidents must be treated as criminal offences and formally reported to the South African Police Service.
According to Moir, the failure to open criminal cases for reported incidents makes it difficult for police to identify those responsible, trace stolen municipal infrastructure and secure prosecutions.
The repeated theft is also placing an additional financial burden on the municipality, with funds that could be used to improve services instead being spent replacing cables and repairing infrastructure damaged by criminals.
Moir said cable theft should not be treated as simply another electricity fault.
“It is the theft and destruction of public infrastructure and must be dealt with accordingly,” she said.
The situation is further complicated by inadequate street lighting in parts of Ladybrand, with dark streets and poorly lit municipal infrastructure potentially creating opportunities for criminal activity.
A community proposal to install surveillance cameras at strategic entrances to Ladybrand and at identified crime hotspots has also become a point of contention.
The proposed system would have included a monitoring room and, according to Moir, would have been implemented at no cost to the municipality, with the community prepared to fund the initiative.
The cameras could have assisted in identifying suspicious vehicles and activity, while providing potentially valuable evidence to SAPS during investigations into cable theft and other crimes.
Moir said it was concerning that the community had been prepared to contribute financially towards protecting municipal infrastructure, yet the proposal was rejected without an effective alternative being put in place.
The DA is calling on Mantsopa to open criminal cases with SAPS for every reported incident involving the theft or vandalism of municipal electrical infrastructure and to provide the relevant case numbers to council.
It is also calling for urgent repairs and maintenance of streetlights in affected areas, as well as a coordinated cable-theft prevention strategy involving the municipality, SAPS and other stakeholders.
The party has further urged the municipality to reconsider the community-funded surveillance camera and monitoring-room proposal.
“Replacing stolen cables after every incident is not a crime-prevention strategy,” Moir said.
“Residents cannot continue paying the price for repeated theft while the same pattern continues without effective intervention. We need accountability, proper criminal investigations and practical preventative measures to protect Ladybrand’s infrastructure and its residents.”
With cable theft continuing to disrupt electricity supplies, residents are facing not only the inconvenience of repeated outages but also the consequences of municipal resources being diverted towards repairing infrastructure that should have been protected in the first place.
