Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Roy Jankielsohn MPL and Sesotho soundbite by Jafta Mokoena MPL. See attached pictures here, here, here and here.
The Free State is facing an electricity infrastructure theft and vandalism crisis.
Agricultural production, medical facilities, emergency services and other businesses are dependent on electricity to carry out their economic activities. Farmers, farm employees and residents in towns are left in the dark, without communication with the outside world, or without electricity and water due to criminal syndicates.
These syndicates plunder and steal transformers, underground electric cables and electric wiring and covers from street lamps. Wiring is stripped of copper content and sold alongside steel street lamp pole covers.
The financial cost is huge to residents of towns, farmers, businesses and local governments. This also impacts on communication and electronic security. A few hundred rand of copper often costs hundreds of thousands of rands in crucial infrastructure.
The Democratic Alliance has submitted questions to the MEC for Community Safety, Mr Jabu Mbalula, demanding answers on the escalating theft of cables and the destruction of Eskom transformers for copper in the Free State. The DA wants to know how many incidents have been reported over the past three financial years, where they occurred, and most importantly, how many arrests and convictions have resulted from actions by local and national law enforcement.
The DA is also demanding answers on whether possible collusion between criminals and Eskom officials has been investigated. Repeated attacks on critical infrastructure cannot simply be dismissed as petty crime. If organised criminal networks are involved, they must be identified, exposed and dismantled. This can no longer be regarded as normal crime, it is an attack on our basic services, our economy and the security of our people in the Free State.
The Free State government cannot continue to stand by while criminals destroy infrastructure and taxpayers are left to foot the bill. The DA will continue to call for accountability and, where necessary, report any wrongdoing to the relevant authorities.