A City of Tshwane employee is among suspects that were caught red handed stealing electricity transformers at the Claudius substation in Laudium.
The incident happened on Wednesday, 27 November.
SUSPECTS CAUGHT STEALING CITY OF TSHWANE TRANSFORMERS IN LAUDIUM
The City of Tshwane said the brazen attempted theft of transformers by an alleged cable theft syndicate was foiled by vigilant community members who noticed unusual activity at the substation.
An employee from the municipality’s Energy & Electricity Department and his associates arrived at the substation in a fleet of marked and unmarked trucks, with an assortment of equipment, including an expensive crane.
The metro said the alleged cable theft syndicate had already removed two MVA transformers from the plinth with the other one already dismantled, awaiting to be loaded onto a flat-bed truck.
“What triggered the curiosity of the community was that the city had not issued any notice of maintenance due to take place at the substation and there was no power supply in the area.
“The community members contacted the TMPD cable theft unit who, together with SAPS members swiftly responded and arrested a few suspects, including a Tshwane employee. Other suspects managed to flee the scene.”
CITY MANAGER URGES COMMUNITIES TO GUARD INFRASTRUCTURE
Meanwhile, City of Tshwane municipal manager Johan Mettler praised the community members for their vigilance in alerting law enforcement agencies.
Mettler said this is the kind of partnership that they should forge with communities as government alone cannot combat this crime phenomenon without the community being its eyes and ears.
“We have always maintained that the infrastructure does not belong to the municipality, but, to the community – it is there to provide services to our communities, and therefore, the community should guard it with jealousy.
“This community was brave enough by contacting law enforcement after noticing a strange occurrence at the substation. We implore communities across all seven regions of the city to do so likewise. I’d like issue a stern warning to other employees who are colluding with criminals that their days are numbered. We will nail them one by one,” Mettler said.
WHAT DO YOU THINK CAN BE DONE TO PROTECT INFRASTRUCTURE AS VANDALISM AND THEFT IS ON THE RISE?
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