Residents of Phahameng, near Bloemfontein, in the Free State have told of how they ran for cover when a shootout ensued between police and cable thieves.
A police officer was injured in Thursday’s shooting.
Speaking on anonymity, a 35-year-old eyewitness said the cable thieves were wearing overalls with Mangaung metro municipality branding and they thought they were municipal employees.
“We just saw police vehicles turning from the street corner where we were standing and drove towards the direction where the men were digging up cables.
“Upon arrival, these men [cable thieves] started shooting at the police and we had to run for our lives. I ran into one of the houses nearby,” said the woman.
Another resident said their area was targeted for cable theft during power outages.
“Every time when there is load shedding, these criminals take advantage by stealing the cables and when the electricity comes back, we are out of power.
“Something has to be done to stop them,” said the 25-year-old man.
Police spokesperson Lt-Col Thabo Covane said a sergeant, 39, was shot in the arm.
“He was immediately taken to a local hospital.
“They were attending to a complaint where people were busy pulling out cables at unoccupied buildings and upon their arrival, the men started shooting randomly while running in different directions,” Covane said.
Mangaung metro power utility Centlec spokesperson Lele Mamatu said cable theft was on the rise, costing them millions.
“We need to replace and pay for our personnel to attend to these incidents and end up incurring costs on overtime and materials. We are spending almost R50m per annum due to cable theft,” Mamatu said.
“Unfortunately it [load shedding] is one of the contributing factors as criminals target some of our networking [lines] during load shedding schedules.
“In terms of preventing cable theft, we are engaging on various steps including community awareness programmes and getting into joint operations with members of the security clusters. We also conduct our own random operations at our power stations from time to time,” he said.
Covane said a case of attempted murder had been opened and urged anyone with information to contact Cpt Tsietsi Mapuru on: 0825277375 or alternatively submit information on the MySAPS App or call the SAPS Crime Stop line on: 0860010111.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
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