Pretoria - The vandalism of City of Tshwane infrastructure places the municipality under unbearable strain that affects service delivery and inconveniences citizens.
This is according to the MMC for utility services and regional operations Daryl Johnston, who condemned recent vandalism of the Soshanguve electricity depot, where employees of the City were also attacked.
These kinds of actions hamper the City’s ambitions to improve the provision of infrastructure because while the City unveiled new and upgraded facilities such as the Bronkhorstspruit substation, some were being damaged elsewhere, the MMC said.
“I would like to condemn in the strongest of terms the attacks on City employees and the continued vandalism of our infrastructure, especially last Wednesday.
“Our buildings and vehicles at Soshanguve substation were damaged by community members who were attempting to prevent load reduction of certain areas.
“Our staff members were made to feel unsafe in the area as they were met with aggressive, intimidating and threatening behaviour. These threatening acts of intimidation are contemptible, especially considering that our electricity teams are working long hours, often throughout the night, trying to manage the significant strain placed on our electrical network.
“We have repeatedly communicated that load shedding has a damaging impact on our electricity network. Extensive illegal connections are causing regular overloading incidents, such as tripping electricity provision to communities, further damaging our network.
“It is disheartening when our own communities attack City employees who are trying to do their work to maintain our electricity network. More disturbing is the fact that there have been many other incidents of intimidation and vandalism of City infrastructure. We cannot allow this trend to continue unabated especially during a difficult winter with high levels of load shedding and extensive problems caused by illegal connections.”
Mayor Randall Williams unveiled the upgraded Bronkhorstspruit substation on Monday, and Johnston said communities should protect and support employees as they worked to ensure the provision of electricity.
The substation underwent an extensive scope of work to upgrade its capacity from 20 MVA to 80MVA at a cost of R96 million, fully funded by the City.
The project started in April 2019 and was completed in April this year.
Williams said: “The team speedily completed its work despite challenges and delays brought about by Covid-19 regulations. With the upgrades and refurbishment, the substation is in good condition with modern technology.
“The upgrades will ensure the City has the capacity to accommodate new applications for connections in Region 7, which will unlock economic and development opportunities around Bronkhorstspruit…”
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