Pretoria - City of Joburg has appealed to residents to stop with illegal connections after a man believed to be from Mozambique was electrocuted at Thembelihle informal settlement.
The man, who died on Sunday, was allegedly paid by residents to connect electricity illegally when he was electrocuted in an open veld next to Lenasia ext.11
Thembelihle is one of many hotspots identified across Johannesburg where illegal connections are rife.
MMC for environment and infrastructure services in the City Mpho Moerane said residents must stop with illegal connections because of the dangers involved and the fact that it inconveniences paying customers.
“Theft of electricity is a serious concern for us,“ Moerane said.
“We are aware of the people who get paid by the residents to connect them to our grid, as was the case with this incident. We have engaged the law enforcement agencies to follow up on some leads to ensure they are arrested.”
The city council said most power outages around Lenasia and surrounding areas were due to, among other factors, overloading caused by such connections.
It said its City Power Revenue Protection Service would intensify a drive to cut off illicit access to the grid. Moerane was on Tuesday due to conduct an inspection in Kya Sands, which has struggled with the scourge.
Last month, two people were electrocuted at Princess squatter camp in Roodepoort.
At the time, City Power spokesman Isaac Mangena said the pair was believed to have tripped on exposed live wires and been electrocuted.
Johannesburg has about 219 informal settlements, most of them with no electricity. For informal settlements to receive services, they must first be proclaimed by Gauteng province’s department of human settlements.
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