City Power officials have uncovered at least two bodies electrocuted to death this week, one in Soweto, and another at a transformer in Randburg.
In Soweto, an alleged cable thief was electrocuted to death while trying to cut live power cables.
In Randburg, the area experienced multiple power outages after midnight on Tuesday, when a man's body was found dead inside a transformer.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said in the Soweto incident, it was suspected that the vandalised cable was still live when the suspect attempted to cut it and was electrocuted to death.
He said the utility regretted the loss of life, tampering with infrastructure had deadly consequences.
He said the utility regretted the loss of life and that tampering with infrastructure had deadly consequences.
“City Power is not ruling out the possibility of a cable theft syndicate, which could be well-organised and use sophisticated tools and equipment to target high-value cables and network infrastructure.
“Due to these crimes, essential services such as water and health services are disrupted, economic activity stops, mobility is halted as traffic lights don’t work, small businesses close, and residents are plunged into darkness,” Mangena said.
Since the start of July, Mangena said over 114 incidences of cable theft and vandalism had been reported to City Power, while 15 suspects had been arrested through cooperation with the police and the City Power Security Risk Management Team.
During the last financial year, City Power recorded over 2,347 incidents of cable theft and vandalism and 278 arrests were made.
The power utility has noted rampant cable theft and vandalism causing power outages in areas such as Randburg, Roodepoort, the Inner City, and Lenasia.
Mangena said two outages in Randburg and one in Pimville this week were directly linked to the now-deceased cable thieves.
“We have had a spike in vandalism and theft of our infrastructure, including cables, in the last few weeks, particularly in Roodepoort and Randburg, where there seems to be a coordinated effort of vandalism.
“This has resulted in a strain on our system and an increased number of trips post load shedding,” said Mangena.
The country is currently gripped by Stage 4 load shedding.
Joburg residents are urged to report suspected cable thieves, vandalism, or any suspicious activity around electrical infrastructure on 0800 116 166, send a WhatsApp to 083 579 4497, or call the police on 10111.
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