City Power has appealed to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) for assistance in preventing the vandalism and theft of public infrastructure, following a recent incident of massive fire outbreak on the M1 highway bridge in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
The fire, which occurred last week, was ignited by thieves attempting to steal copper cables.
City Powers subsequent clean-up operations revealed that approximately 300m of copper cables were stolen during the incident, leading to power outages in certain areas across the city.
The CEO of City Power, Tshifularo Mashava, emphasises the need for external support, saying, "We understand that theres an economic infrastructure task team which is there to really assist and support the likes of us in terms of curbing cable theft. So our appeal is for us to get priority, for us to get the help because weve been trying to do this on our own with our own security guards. So us writing, was for us to really just raise our hand and flag and say please pay attention to us."
City Power and EMS assess the extent of the damage: ?
