| Let’s ACT against vandalism – Area South, Mitchells Plain records high electricity vandalism incidents | Let’s ACT against vandalism – Area South, Mitchells Plain records high electricity vandalism incidents | | <img alt="" src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/PublishingImages/City%20news.jpg" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | <p>The City urges all communities to stand with us in our ongoing fight against electricity infrastructure theft, damage and vandalism. By reporting this criminal activity to the City and the South African Police Service (SAPS), we can keep the lights on in our neighbourhoods. In the last quarter of 2023, 353 incidents of vandalism, theft and illegal connections damage were recorded, with the majority of incidents occurring in the southern districts. <br></p> | <p></p><span><p>The City's Area South recorded 271 incidents (77%) from October to December 2023. Not only does vandalism to infrastructure cost the City millions to fix, but it impacts on repair turnaround times as damaged infrastructure often takes time to replace and repair.</p><p> </p><p>'The Mitchells Plain district remains one of the hardest hit districts with 137 (39%) incidents alone. This district not only includes areas within Mitchells Plain but areas outside of the region such as Lotus River, Grassy Park and Philippi. All these areas are hotspots for vandalism and illegal connections.<br></p>
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<img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/Philippi%20farms%20kioskjpg.jpg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:1898px;" /> </figure></span><span><p><strong>R5,7 million in repair costs</strong></p><p> </p><p>'The City's Area East recorded 70 incidents, Area North recorded 12, while Area South recorded an alarming 271 incidents. The recorded 353 incidents of damaged infrastructure across the city will cost the City approximately R5,7 million to repair and replace. While we are seeing much lower incidents in Eastern and Northern regions, vandalism in Area South and Mitchells Plain in particular remains a challenge. A large majority of these incidents are taking place under the cover of darkness and during load-shedding,' said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley Van Reenen.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Vandalism and illegal connections have reached high levels</strong></p><p> </p><p>'Over the last five years we have seen an exponential growth in the number of incidents in the metro. The sheer number of incidents as well as the many reoccurring incidents has had a major impact on turnaround times and on staff capacity to restore power or to fix the affected street lighting,' said Councillor van Reenen.<br></p>
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<img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/Ravensmead%20kiosk.jpg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:1898px;" /> </figure></span><span><p><strong>Interventions and illegal connection operation success</strong></p><p> </p><p>The City Energy teams, including the Energy Law Enforcement and Technical Unit (ELETU) teams, have increased efforts to protect infrastructure in communities. While we have seen success in some hotspot areas, many other regions such Mitchells Plain have seen more incidents taking place. We are once again calling on the community to be our eyes and ears and to report to the City and SAPS.</p><p> </p><p>As a result of our illegal connection disconnection operations, areas such as Mfuleni and Philippi have seen fewer cases of prolonged outages and tripping. Our zero tolerance towards illegal activity is clear and we will continue to protect all communities, residents and infrastructure.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Streetlights</strong></p><p> </p><p>The City is responsible for 245 000 streetlights and through our enforcement agencies we are doing all we can, within our mandate, to address theft and the serious vandalism of our critical infrastructure. </p><p> </p><p>Where streetlight repair delays occur due to high electricity request volumes, as is currently being experienced,<strong> </strong>we ask residents to be patient with us while our teams attend to it as soon as possible.<br></p>
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<img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/Several%20metres%20of%20cable%20dug%20up%20and%20streetlights%20vand%20Eisleben%20Road.jpg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:3165px;" /> </figure></span><p><strong>Let's ACT and by reporting to the authorities we can make a difference</strong></p><p>Report all suspicious activities at or near electricity infrastructure to the City's law enforcement agencies or the City's Fraud Hotline on 0800 1100 77 or to the SAPS. The SAPS remains the lead authority in crime prevention.<br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>End</strong><br></p><p><br></p> | 2024-02-08T22:00:00Z | GP0|#1d539e44-7c8c-4646-887d-386dc1d95d70;L0|#01d539e44-7c8c-4646-887d-386dc1d95d70|City news;GTSet|#62efe227-07aa-45e7-944c-ceebacca891d | | | | | GP0|#fc0a19bf-6a9b-42af-bc90-8a0d4b9f4eac;L0|#0fc0a19bf-6a9b-42af-bc90-8a0d4b9f4eac|vandalism;GTSet|#2e3de6c1-9951-4747-8f53-470629a399bb;GP0|#b195be29-9300-4dc7-ac99-92629ce847ac;L0|#0b195be29-9300-4dc7-ac99-92629ce847ac|electricity;GTSet|#2e3de6c1-9951-4747-8f53-470629a399bb | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | 0 |
