In February 2022, the most incidents of electricity vandalism and illegal connections that were recorded occurred in the metro’s Area North in areas such as Hanover Park, Heideveld, Athlone and Manenberg as well as in Atlantis and the central city areas of Woodstock and along Philip Kgosana Drive. In Area South, Mitchells Plain recorded the most number of incidents. The City continues to deploy proactive measures to help curb the vandalism scourge. We ask our communities to help us protect community infrastructure. Streetlights and electrical kiosks were the most vandalised infrastructure.
‘In February 2022 almost R1 million was recorded in damage from vandalism and illegal connections. The City is trying to keep Cape Town lit but vandalism, theft and illegal connections cause a lot of damage and unnecessary power outages. These actions drain our resources from much-needed maintenance and upgrading work and places the City’s capital programme at risk. A million rand could rather have been spent on expanding service delivery, as in many cases, sadly, as soon as the City fixes or replaces vandalised infrastructure, it is vandalised again. There are some shifting trends visible, such as the number of incidents in Area North, and also a move of incidents of theft and vandalism into the more formal metro areas.
‘We appeal to residents to assist us by reporting any suspicious activities near electricity infrastructure to both the South African Police Service and the City so that we can bring an end to infrastructure theft and vandalism. We often leave streetlights on in some cases to deter vandals and where lights are out due to vandalism, the City fixes it as soon as possible. Sadly, often as soon as lights have been fixed, they are vandalised again. The City does deploy security and monitor hotspot areas where possible, but we rely on our communities to alert us and to help us protect community infrastructure,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen.
The South African Police Service remains the lead authority in crime prevention.
Source: City Of Cape Town