City Power security officers were shot and injured on Sunday, in the Eikenhof area, south of Joburg.
The two security officers were doing their regular patrols in the bushes near Eikenhof substation when they were ambushed by an unknown number of suspected cable thieves who came from nowhere and started shooting.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said a shootout ensued, with the two security officers clearly outgunned, and one of the security officers was shot and taken to Milpark hospital.
“The shooting is another proof that the cable thieves are being brazen and dangerous. We are no longer dealing with common criminals but well-resourced individuals.”
The area of Eikenhof is the hardest hit as the cable theft hotspot. This is partly due to the vast open bushy spaces where our cables supplying Naturena, Kiblerpark, among others, run.
Mangena has called on the SAPS to do more to assist their security response to cable theft and vandalism.
“A case of attempted murder, tempering and attempted theft of essential infrastructure has been opened with the police.”
Meanwhile 18 cases of vandalism and theft of cables, fuses, breakers, were reported between Friday and Sunday. One suspect was arrested in Fairlands for being in possession of fuses stolen from a transformer substation in the area.
