Eskom sleepless nights over theft, infrastructure vandalism

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Eskom technicians are working around the clock to repair and restore supply to the remaining parts of Drumblade and Walkerville, south of Johannesburg.

This comes after an extended outage caused by cable theft and vandalism at the Goldview substation on Wednesday.

The power utility says it is concerned with the increase in incidents of theft and vandalism of the electricity infrastructure in Gauteng.

These criminals acts result in the loss of revenue and increased replacement costs for the power utility says Mashangu Xivambu, Maintenance and Operations Senior Manager.

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“Theft and vandalism of electricity leave customers without electricity supply for prolonged periods, inconveniencing law abiding, paying customers and community service points such as healthcare and education facilities, business and the economy at large.

“Recently, the power utility reported theft of oil from the transformer of its Randburg substation, while the residents of Buccleuch and Waterfall in Johannesburg were left without supply for five days due to theft and vandalism of the electricity equipment not long ago.”

Xivambu further revealed that the power utility conducts risk assessments to classify and identify hot spot areas and place static guards strategically at these sites

He added; “Eskom cannot win this fight alone, we partner and collaborate with community members, community security companies, business forums, community policing forums (CPF), SAPS and POPS to try and reduce theft and vandalism of the electricity infrastructure.

“We appeal to those communities who are not yet on board to join forces with us in the battle against this scourge that is affecting all of us.”