Cape Town - The Macassar community is making inroads in curbing the ongoing extended power outages in the area following the arrest of a cable thief.
The community is also in pursuit of another suspect who is believed to be involved in the recent incident.
The residents in the area have been experiencing extended power outages for months due to a damaged Eskom cable on Macassar Road, on top of the theft of the electricity infrastructure.
On November 2, the area was plunged into darkness after what the residents initially thought was load-shedding but soon realised that the power outage was not in line with the load-shedding schedule for the area.
Information that was brought forward pointed to two men who were allegedly seen fleeing after an explosion on the R102, close to Macassar.
Ward councillor Peter Helfrich said because of the dire circumstances experienced in the ward, and a lack of police visibility, they activated more neighbourhood watch members to patrol streets to prevent cable theft.
He said after this there had been a reduction in this crime, also made possible by the community which has been supplying the authorities with tip-offs.
“I am not sure why these criminals tried their luck and thought they would get away with it – but I am very sure they regret their actions today. We do not doubt that the other suspect will soon be brought to book. We have his identity and we know where he lives,” he said.
Helfrich said the neighbourhood watch strategy had proven effective as the ward has seen a reduction in cable theft.
“We want these criminals to face the full might of the law. We also want this to be a lesson to other aspiring cable thieves. The community is standing together and you will be caught. If you try your luck, you will almost certainly end up in jail – for many years,” Helfrich said.
Community leader Felicity Solomons said to be without electricity almost every week for days on end was worse than stage 6 load-shedding and cable theft combined.
Another community leader, Christiaan Steward, applauded the swift arrest of the perpetrator as a step closer to restoring stability in the community.