Durban - The continuing and widespread vandalism of electricity infrastructure in eThekwini Municipality is now undermining investment in new projects that must be undertaken by the Metro’s electricity unit.
This was revealed by Luntu Mthethwa, the senior manager responsible for construction planning and works in the unit.
This comes as the Msunduzi Municipality is set to roll out a multimillion-rand street lights project in which aluminium cables will be used instead of copper in a bid to curb cable theft.
Mthethwa, speaking via the City’s podcast, eThekwini Matters, said that vandalism of the municipal electricity infrastructure was a serious and ongoing problem and it was widespread across the City.
“The issue of cable theft and vandalism is quite a big challenge for the city. It is setting us back in terms of the plans that we want to undertake. When they steal our cables or vandalise infrastructure, we need to go back and fix the infrastructure that has been vandalised.
“It’s taking a toll on plans we have, and financially it is coming at a huge cost, because we need to go back and fix infrastructure that was existing that we didn’t plan for.
“It’s a big problem and it’s affecting us in terms of delivering to the community,” she said.
The head of the Electricity Unit, Maxwell Mthembu, has previously raised similar concerns, saying the theft, especially of cables, was causing extended power outages. He said in parts of the city, criminals would steal cables every time there was load shedding.
City councillors shared Mthethwa’s concerns and said the theft and vandalism was at a crisis level.
ActionSA councillor Alan Beesley said: “As with all crimes in the country, there is no doubt that cable theft and vandalism of public property is at a record high.
“Rather than pointing fingers and blaming others for this theft and vandalism, the ANC-led municipality must look at themselves.
“First, policing by both the metro police and SAPS has become nonexistent.
“Secondly, the root cause of the theft and vandalism is the rapidly increasing unemployment. This has arisen through the economy of eThekwini and the country being destroyed by incompetent and corrupt political leadership.”
A spokesperson for African Democratic Change (ADeC) said cable theft and vandalism in eThekwini had become a scourge in the City, causing significant disruption and loss of life.
“It is a disgrace that this problem continues to flourish unabated, with no viable solution in sight. The blame lies squarely on poor consequence management and lack of policing by the competent authorities.’’
Meanwhile, in Pietermaritzburg, the R45-million street lights project will see the City replacing its ageing infrastructure. The project is expected to be rolled out in the CBD first before spreading to residential areas – suburbs and townships.
The plan was revealed at yesterday’s executive committee (exco) meeting where councillors gave the idea the nod.
The acting deputy municipal manager for electricity, Sifiso Shozi, said the plan was aimed at dealing with the outages arising from cable theft.
“We are looking at installing aluminium cables to deal with the challenge of copper theft,” Shozi told the exco members.
He added that they were also looking at using solar energy as part of the City’s plan to ensure an uninterrupted power supply.
DA exco member Ross Strachan agreed that solar energy was a good idea.
“We should consider whether we should not invest in solar energy infrastructure as a means to ensure supply,” he said.
Msunduzi deputy mayor and infrastructure committee chairperson, Mxolisi Mkhize, said the municipality was suffering because of cable theft.
The City’s erratic power supply has been cited as one of the reasons why businesses were looking elsewhere when considering investment options.
“We are trying to deal with the issue of cable theft because of its effects, and there are a number of options being considered, solar is one,” Mkhize told the meeting.
He added that while the move towards solar was welcomed, exco members should be equally alert to the prospect of thieves targeting the batteries in solar-powered lights, and the impact that this could have on the power supply.
Theft of electricity infrastructure has seen the municipality proposing 24-hour security at some of its substations which have been targeted by cable thieves.
Following the approval by exco members, the item is expected to be tabled at the next sitting of council, the date of which is still to be confirmed.