1. Introduction
The Mayoral Committee of the City of Tshwane held its 62nd ordinary meeting in Centurion today and received an appraisal on the state of electricity outages as a result of cable theft and vandalism at our installations in various areas over the last four days.
The impact of these acts on the economy of Tshwane and the disruption of social services to our communities are a cause of immense concern and call for closer partnership with the business community, law enforcement agencies and communities so as to deal with this scourge.
Brakfontein 132 kV substation
Brakfontein substation is situated in Region 4, Centurion. The substation supplies electricity to several secondary substations. These substations feed suburbs including Wierda Park, The Reeds, The Reeds South, Heuweloord, Hennopspark Industrial Area, Amberfield and Brakfontein.
On Sunday, 29 June 2014 at 08h00, we received several calls regarding major power failures in the above areas. Due to the extent of the complaints received, it was evident that the trip was due to a primary trip at Brakfontein substation. When we arrived at the substation, we found that unknown persons had broken the windows and vandalised the substation, stealing most of the protection and control cables.
Kentron 132 kV substation
Kentron substation is situated in Region 4, Centurion. The substation supplies electricity to several secondary substations. These substations feed suburbs including Centurion Golf Estate, Eco Park, Centurion Business Centre, Zwartkop, Highveld Techno Park and Highveld.
On Monday, 30 June 2014, we received a call at 15h00 reporting a fire at the Kentron substation. When our technicians reached the site, the Fire Department was already attending to the fire and they continued until 19h00, when we could assess the damage and determine the cause.
During our assessment, we found that the protection and communication cabling had been stolen by unknown intruders. The extent of the damage was caused by the fact that this cabling was removed, and the control room was therefore not informed of the problem.
2. Impact on the economy and service delivery
Cable theft not only plunges whole neighbourhoods into darkness and disrupts power supply and telecommunication services, but also degrades services such as rail transport and affects essential services such as traffic lights.
Water
South Africans are fortunate to be able to drink clean water out of taps. However, this may become a thing of the past: In one case last year, cable theft at a water treatment plant resulted in water contamination.
Telecommunications
Broadband and ADSL internet access in every South African household and business will continue to be only a dream as long as cable theft continues. Telkom reported that losses from cable theft were between R165,4 million and R183,5 million in its 2010/11 financial year; cable theft incidents increased by 17% during that time.
Impact on the City of Tshwane
There were more than 450 reported cases of cable theft or vandalism of mini substations, transformers, etc. in Tshwane during April, May and June 2014, with a cost of R20 million. Current estimates for the recent damage at the two substations is R8 million, which the City incurs for the 2014/15 financial year.
These acts not only impact the power supply but also erode our financial resources, which are urgently needed to improve service delivery and rejuvenate the network rather than replacing still-functioning equipment.
3. Our response
The Mayoral Committee noted today that the incidents reflect the current criminal environment as manifested by the illicit economic sector – it contains a myriad of actors, methods and intra-cyclical developments that negate traditional prosecution-based approaches and facility security measures.
To effectively disrupt this supply chain on a sustainable basis, we must attack the underlying root causes and factors that underpin the criminal behaviour, while taking into consideration that our resources to fight this growing threat remain small and finite.
A multi-pronged strategy is needed that includes the following:
- Law enforcement that includes private prosecution, civil claims, etc
- Intelligence-determined execution of counter-strategies
- Community and business partnerships to curb the trade and hiring of cable scavengers and thieves
- Increased security and intelligence-gathering
- New technology (chipping, tracing and tracking)
- Rewards for whistle-blowers whose information leads to arrests
- Increased security personnel and rapid response and reaction units at all installations
We will continue to work with the task team set up by national government and various private sector organisations to ensure that we turn the tide against cable theft and vandalism of our services infrastructure.
4. Conclusion
We call upon affected customers to report power failures by SMS: Text the word power, followed by your account number, to 082 612 0333 or 080 111 556 and use other platforms such as the Primedia Crime Line (SMS 32211 (costs are R1/SMS and SMSs remain anonymous) and the Eskom Crime Reporting Line (0800 11 27 22, toll-free and highly confidential).
We again apologise for the inconvenience caused. The Mayoral Committee extends appreciation and encouragement to community members for continuing to blow the whistle on these heinous acts and to the Metro Police for excellent work in dealing with some of the incidents.
Enquiries and commentary:
Blessing Manale, Executive Head: Public Affairs and Media Relations - Office of the Executive Mayor
Cell: 083 677 1630
E-mail: BlessingManale@tshwane.gov.za
