Byline: Kelebogile Masemola
28 July 2022
The City of Tshwane deployed electricians and policing authorities on Tuesday, 19 July, to Brazzaville informal settlement in Tshwane to disconnect 800 illegal connections.
These illegal connections were connected to the Phelindaba overhead line which supplies areas such as Schurveberg AH and nearby businesses.
MMC for Utility Services and Regional Operations Daryl Johnston said the SAPS helped with the operation.
“An estimated R400 000 of electrical material was removed, including 11 kV overhead lines, aluminium conductors and aluminium aerial bundle conductors,” said Johnston.
“Our teams also removed three medium-voltage transformers, this is significant set of stolen infrastructure.”
Johnston said illegal connections are the reason many areas experience power trips after load-shedding, which result in extended power outages.
This is made worse by the theft of City infrastructure, such as cables, conductors and transformers.”
Johnston said illegal connections cost the City hundreds of millions of rand in damages to infrastructure and repairs and affected residents and businesses.
“Furthermore, illegal connections cost the City hundreds of millions of rand in damages to infrastructure and repair costs.
These result in significant non-revenue losses that destroy the City’s finances.
It is therefore important that we do everything possible to prevent this scourge,” he said.
Johnston said the metro will continue to implement measures to prevent illegal electrical connections.
He added that this operation was one of many measures implemented to protect City infrastructure.
