Police remove illegal electricity connections
REMOVED: Authorities in Philippi
City of Cape Town Law Enforcement and SAPS officials clamped down on illegal electricity connections in Philippi again this week.
The police removed cables which had been illegally connected to City supply infrastructure.
Mayco Member for Energy, Beverley van Reenen says repairs and disconnections of the same vandalised infrastructure is not feasible or safe, while the illegal connections places pressure on City resources and negatively impacts residents by leaving entire neighbourhoods without power.
She said Tuesday’s operation was an example of the City intensifying its efforts by carrying out regular illegal connection disconnection operations in the metro’s hotspots.
“We are aware of and are monitoring all illegal connection and infrastructure vandalism hotspot areas.
“The City is serious about protecting critical infrastructure and those who are legally supplied with electricity.
“We will not tolerate vandalism which impacts on this supply to our residents. Illegal connections leave whole communities in darkness due to overloaded connections and exposed live wires,” Van Reenen said.
She added that criminals have seemingly taken advantage of Eskom’s load shedding to target infrastructure, and areas including Philippi and Mitchells Plain especially have been hit hard, while this often causes prolonged electricity outages.
“We wish to be extremely clear, we will not allow these acts of criminality to have an impact on the supply to residents. Our work and zero-tolerance approach to this type of criminality and safety hazard will continue.
“We thank all teams, Law Enforcement and SAPS for assisting with this successful operation. Residents may report illegal connections and vandalism to the City and SAPS,” Van Reenen added.