Save Your Substation: Neighbourhood eyes and ears can help keep the lights on in Mitchells Plain

12 December 2024

The City is putting out a call to action to Protect Your Power and Save Your Substation. Residents in neighbourhoods across the metro are often best placed to observe any suspicious activity near critical substations. A recent alarming trend is the targeting of electricity substations by criminals, which leads to extended outage periods for larger areas.

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg, recently joined electricity teams in Weltevreden Valley, Mitchells Plain attending to a vandalised substation which had led to loss of supply for households across the area. Electrical substations are part and parcel of neighbourhoods, with private properties often abutting the substations. This means that local residents offer the best first-line surveillance of spotting any suspicious and criminal activity that will impact electricity supply. 

‘The damage to substations is particularly concerning to us as more residents are impacted for a longer period of time while repairs are effected. The scale of repairs required impacts the turnaround time as multiple pieces of equipment need to be replaced or large infrastructure must be procured. Over the less than three months from 17 September 2024 to 6 December 2024, 35 cases of infrastructure vandalism in the Mitchells Plain area were reported to the South African Police Service. On the day before our visit, four substations were vandalised in one day. In addition, an individual was arrested earlier this week attempting to vandalise a substation. These incidents really highlight the scale of the problem and show a promising turnaround.

‘Areas across the metro, including the majority of the City’s Area South, continue to be hit hard by energy vandals and thieves. Teams often have to return to the area soon after completing repairs to fix the same infrastructure. This impacts public security and also impacts the City’s finances. These acts of destruction divert resources from essential resources and impacts the City’s efforts to provide services to residents in our communities. Repair teams must often be escorted by private security, which increases the cost of repairs.

‘We encourage our residents to be on the lookout for any unmarked vehicles parked close to substations or any suspicious-looking individual hanging around electrical infrastructure and to please alert the authorities. Most of our substations are in neighbourhoods close to homes and we ask our residents to be our eyes and ears on the ground. Only by working together can we protect our power and hit back at the criminals targeting our infrastructure,’ said Alderman Limberg.

The City is urging residents to join us in combatting streetlight theft and vandalism. By reporting it to the City, we can create safer and brighter communities.
 
Let’s ACT: Protect Your Power
Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre: 021 480 7700

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office