Last month, the Ekurhuleni energy department embarked on an operation to remove such connections and it resulted in 17 000 such connection being removed in the entire metro.
Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele admitted that there is a serious problem of illegal electricity connections in the metro.
“The practice is more prominent in informal settlements where you even find slum lords selling our electricity illegally to others,” says Gungubele.
The illegal connections have resulted in the loss of innocent lives in the past, especially youngsters due to the danger posed by the exposed electrical cables.
“By the way fellow councillors, Illegal connections are costing the city in the region of R36 million a year – translating to losses of between R2.8-m and R4.9-m a month,” he told them at a council meeting on November 25.
Gungubele said the energy department opted for a more friendly approach in that they embarked on a month-long education campaign in the affected communities about the dangers of illegal connections, before escalating the operation to the unpopular removal of the cables drive.
“You may have seen in the media that there have been violent protests characterised by looting in some areas, the latest being Thokoza – the removal of illegal connections was used as the reason for these crimes,” adds Gungubele.
He said no matter how unpopular, this is one programme “we must continue with until we are satisfied that the lives of innocent people are safe, and that we have curbed the general theft of power in our area”.
