Cape Town - The City of Cape Town, through its Energy and Safety and Security Directorates, has launched yet another initiative to tackle the rampant destruction and theft of its electricity infrastructure.
The initiative, in the form of a new Energy Safety Team, was launched on Wednesday, May 24, in Lentegeur Mitchells Plain.
According to the City, the new Energy Safety Team will work alongside the City’s Law Enforcement agencies and the SAPS to shield its investments of critical electricity infrastructure across the metro.
For its 2023/24 financial year, the City reported that it had allocated additional funds to enhance security at critical points and increase monitoring of its electricity infrastructure.
Last week Safety and Security Mayco member JP Smith revealed that recently, the local municipality had seen a surge in acts of vandalism, theft and illegal connections.
“Most alarmingly is an increase in the number of incidents taking place under the cover of darkness during load shedding hours,” Smith had revealed.
“Concerns for our employees’ safety often result in delayed responses to power failures across the metro. This dedicated team of law enforcement officers will be focused on keeping employees safe while they work on restoring our city’s power,” Smith said.
The Energy Safety Unit will be integrated with other teams, such as the Metal Theft Unit. The team’s operating jurisdictions will consist of patrolling red zones in the metro.
Smith said the launch of the City’s new Energy Safety team was testament to the commitment to improve service delivery in communities.