The City of Cape Town’s Energy Directorate has implemented several interventions to crack down on energy infrastructure theft and vandalism, Cape {town} Etc reports.
One such intervention includes ride-alongs with the City’s Metal Theft Unit (MTU) as they tackle cable thieves and infrastructure vandals.
Also read: Cape Town’s electricity theft, vandalism damage costs R7.3m
The City established an Energy Safety Team and increased additional security, while community partnerships are ‘key to beating criminals’, according to a press statement issued by the City.
‘The City is serious about tackling energy vandalism and theft in all areas across the metro. Our boots on the ground approach is paying off with a person apprehended just last week in connection with the tampering of the City’s electricity metering infrastructure,’ said Alderman Xanthea Limberg, the City’s Energy Mayco Member.
‘Recent data shows a total of 242 theft and vandalism incidents reported, with Area South most impacted, between April and June 2024. In that same period, some R7.3 million was spent by the City to fix theft and vandalised infrastructure, with the majority of that spent on repairing public lighting,’ Limberg added.
This situation has led the City to impose interventions in place to enable energy teams to ‘fix infrastructure faster’ and to reduce the risks of theft and vandalism.
An anonymous tip-off campaign called Let’s ACT: Protect Your Power has also been launched for residents to report suspicious activity near infrastructure.
‘Zooming out to longer-term solutions, we’re replacing the copper material with aluminium, where possible, to reduce the street value, rolling out more and more underground cabling where feasible, increasing CCTV monitoring and looking at more innovative options to be rolled out soon,’ said Limberg.
‘We are arranging enhanced engagements, education and awareness drives with communities across the metro. We thank our teams for their work and community members for their support. We can only protect our power if we work together,’ Limberg added.
Also read:
City struggles with costly vandalism in water and sanitation services
Picture: Jonathan Borba / Pexels
