CITY Power contractors have been arrested for tampering and bribery.
One of the subcontractor was arrested for tampering with streetlights in Eldorado Park, while another was arrested in Mayibuye for attempting to solicit a bribe in exchange for facilitating an illegal connection.
The two incidents occurred this past weekend amid the entity's continued attempts to crack down on internal collaborators in the fight against theft, vandalism and illegal connections.
According to City Power spokesman Isaac Mangena, on Friday, 23 February 2024, the entity officials responded to a call from an employee who had been threatened by a subcontractor in Eldorado Park for illegally operating on faulty streetlights in the Lenasia area.
Upon arriving at the scene, operators found the streetlights functioning and the subcontractor confessed to tampering with the electricity infrastructure.
“This prompted the operators to try and conduct a meter audit at the suspect's property. However, they were denied entry and faced threats to their safety.
“The suspect was eventually arrested and charged with tampering with essential infrastructure and has been detained at Eldorado Park Police Station,” he said.
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In a separate arrest that took place on Saturday, 24 February 2024, Mangena said a contractor was caught illegally connecting a customer in Rabie Ridge after soliciting a bribe worth R800.
He was detained at the Rabie Ridge Police Station.
Mangena said it was worrying that this comes as a trend of illegal connections in Mayibuye is beginning to rear its ugly head yet again, not long after completing the installation of meters in the area.
This project began on 6 November 2023 and was officially concluded on 18 December.
According to Mangena, at the time, the project had challenges that caused delays in the initial projected completion time.
City Power has strongly condemned the actions of these unscrupulous contractors
In December last year, City Power launched an internal probe to expose any internal linkages to what seemed like an organised criminal syndicate targeting City Power infrastructure.
“As part of that plan, we have also deployed more security resources with special focus on intelligence and the use of technology to detect wrongdoing and respond timeously,” he said.
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