RESIDENTS say while they are asleep at night, izinyoka steal their cables and when they wake up the following morning, there's no electricity in the area.
Now the fed up residents of Simunye in Bekkersdal, Gauteng have come up with a plan.
They have sealed the cable on the ground with cement and concrete sand to make difficult for izinyoka to steal it. The residents said each household had contributed R5 towards buying bags of cement and concrete sand.
"We are tired. We cannot be going without electricity because of a few individuals," said a resident.
"This time, they will work hard for it. We will hear them as they dig, and they will pay," vowed a resident.
Frank Motsamai said residents are gatvol and if they don't help themselves, who will?
"If cables are stolen, everything stops," said another resident.
Tavern owner gogo Nonkosi Mhluzana (63) said her business has been affetcted and they're forced to close as early as 6pm because of cable theft.
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"People who steal cables ruin our businesses. I don't blame residents for putting concrete on top of their cables," she said.
"Sometimes the same people who install cables return later to steal them."
Residents also patrol their area at night to ensure that thugs don't do as they please.
West Rand municipal spokesman Phillip Montshiwa said the move by residents to put concrete on the cables is wrong.
"We don't condone it because technicians will struggle to fix the problem if there's any fault. We will ask the local councillor to hold a meeting with the community to address this matter," he said.
"In as much as the municipality doesn't have control over cable theft, we are hoping that the community can come up with a plan of guarding their infrastructure, for example, by conducting patrols, especially during load shedding," Montshiwa said.
