The City of Cape Town says it’s been grappling with an increase in incidents of electricity infrastructure vandalism and illegal connections, costing it more than R6 million.

It says in the first quarter of 2024 alone, 223 cases (totalling roughly R6.26 million) were reported. The City says the hardest-hit area is Area South, which accounts for 57% of the incidents, with Mitchells Plain bearing the brunt with a total of 94 incidents.

Teams on the ground have encountered severe destruction due to vandalism and theft, necessitating the rebuilding of entire circuits and grids. Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Beverly Van Reenen, says the prolonged restoration process, often taking a week or more, poses significant challenges to service delivery.

Van Reenen also noted that safety concerns have escalated. This after, Eskom employees came under attack in Khayelitsha earlier this week. One of the employees is said to suffered severe injuries in the assault.

READ MORE: Eskom halts operations in Khayelitsha following assault on employees

“The City and its contractors can only attend to service requests when it is safe to do so. Where possible, City teams are being accompanied by City law enforcement or private security when resources are available. The City is advising many of its contractors to set in place plans to be able to rapidly leave a particular area if the security risk becomes too great as teams are very vulnerable when they are attempting to fix infrastructure in some of the high risk communities.”

Meanwhile, instances of repeated vandalism within hours of repair efforts are not uncommon.

Van Reenan says criminals typically target easily accessible infrastructure such as overhead cables, streetlights, and kiosks – with substation repairs being the most costly.

“’So in response to these alarming statistics, we aim to make our infrastructure more resilient, and to reduce the scope for vandalism over time. Against the background of high levels of vandalism, theft and load-shedding damage, the City plans to invest more than R4bn in electricity grid upgrades and maintenance over three years.”

On Thursday, the City also launched a campaign against electricity vandalism, in a bid to urge community members to report any suspicious behavior to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre.

Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre: 021 480 7700