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Because of vandals that targeted Helderberg’s Lourensrivier substation on Tuesday night, Eskom customers in Somerset West and Strand have been without power, Cape {town} Etc reports.

‘The continuous theft and vandalism of Eskom infrastructure is impeding both basic service delivery and major infrastructure projects, as well as severely affecting the electricity restoration to customers who are without power for long durations,’ the power utility said in a statement on Wednesday.

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‘Field technicians and specialised construction teams are on site assessing the damage. Unfortunately, there is still no estimated time for the restoration of electricity supply,’ they added.

In an effort to combat this, Eskom has set up a ‘rewards system’ to encourage residents to provide information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators responsible for the vandalism and theft, as reported by News24.

‘We urge communities to take a stand and work together with Eskom and the authorities to bring those responsible to justice,’ said Eskom.

The City of Cape Town has also been working towards restoring power.

‘Accurate times of restoration are regrettably not possible to give,’ the City said in a post on X.

The City stated that it was following up with Eskom regularly.

‘We urge residents to unplug all inverters to avoid the system from being overloaded and tripping at such time when the power is restored,’ the City added.

At 11:50am today, the power utility posted an update stating that the power supply to Somerset West has been restored and that teams are on site and ‘working to restore the power’ in the Strand area.

Members of the public are encouraged to report incidents via the toll-free hotline 0800 11 27 22 or to contact the SAPS.

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Picture: Pixabay / Pexels

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