Electricity theft claims man's life

File photo: African News Agency/ANA

File photo: African News Agency/ANA

Published Aug 9, 2018

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Electricity theft in South Africa is out of control in the country and has claimed another life. This time it's the George municipality that is investigating a fatality connected to this crime.

Corruption aside, Eskom is losing billions each year to electricity theft, and many people are getting electrocuted because of unsafe wires in areas where it takes place. 

In George, a man, who has yet to be identified, was electrocuted after he allegedly attempted to connect an illegal wire from the New Dawn Park suburb to All Bricks, an informal settlement in the nearby Thembalethu. Netwerk24 reported. This not only caused a power failure but led to him being electrocuted.

"It caused a power outage in New Dawn Park which took three-and-a-half hours to restore," said Chantal Edwards-Klose, a George municipality spokesperson.

What concerned the municipality even more was that the exposed wire was hanging at knee height in an area in which children like to play.

The damage involved amounts to around R10 000.

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