The City of Tshwane says it will install cameras at its substations to deal with the ongoing vandalism and damage to infrastructure after 17 substations were vandalised in the past 12 months.
Nine of those were vandalised in the past five months, said the city's spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.
According to Mashigo, they hope the presence of cameras will help curb the problem by alerting security personnel of any suspicious activity around substations so that they can rush there before anything happens.
"This will assist the security personnel to be able to see any intruders before entering our substations and react on time," he said.
Recently, Watloo substation exploded and left many residents in Pretoria East in the dark.
While the cause of this explosion is not yet known and is still under investigation, Mashigo said they had found that homeless people looking for cables to steal were targeting their substations.
"Preliminary investigations suggest that vagrants are intentionally targeting these cables, cutting or removing them in acts of theft and vandalism. These control cables are essential for the reliable operations of substations," he said.
Soshanguve, Mamelodi, Akasia, and Mabopane are some of the communities prone to cable theft and vandalism of electrical infrastructure which results in them hardly going a month without power outages as a result.
Preliminary investigations suggest that vagrants are intentionally targeting these cables, cutting or removing them in acts of theft and vandalism.
— Lindela Mashigo, City of Tshwane spokesperson
Local businesses have raised concerns about the losses they endure during power outages.
The manager of Mukomani Foodhouse & Carwash in Soshanguve, Chikosi Nenzhelele, said every week they struggle with power outages. "We had a community meeting last month about having people patrol in the evenings, but we have yet to finalise the outcome of that meeting."
Nenzhelele said if power goes off during weekend, the business loses about R3,000 in income. "Weekends are busy and I lose R1,200 in car wash [income] because I can't use the water gun machine and R1,800 in food sales because we are unable to cook and are forced to close," he said.
Cecil Marome, who sells bunny chow and fat cakes, said the longest she has gone without electricity was a week. "Each day without electricity, I lose about R700. I can't afford a gas stove, so I am forced to close. Every month we are told that cables were stolen," she said.
Tebogo Chaane said as winter is approaching, he is worried about the power outages and the risk the darkness poses to residents.
“We are going into winter and it becomes dark early in the evenings. That increases the risks of being robbed in the streets if there are no lights.
"Also, bathing in cold water in winter is terrible. The city must do something to protect electricity infrastructure," he said.
Mashigo said the city was concerned that there has been an increase in theft and vandalism of electrical infrastructure which has "resulted in serious risks to the integrity of power supply system".
"The latest incidents involve deliberate damage to control cables at substations...nine substations in the past five months and 17 in total for the past 12 months."
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