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City Power security successfully arrested 1 of 3 cable thieves at Cydna substation near Norwood on Thursday night. 

Off duty officers reported suspicious activity at the substation and a security team was dispatched who caught the criminals in the act. 

The perpetrator was delivered to the Norwood police station to be charged with infrastructure theft and is currently in holding waiting to appear in court. 

Cydna is the same substation where a gang armed with AK47's overpowered security officers before robbing several hundred kilograms of copper cables just a fortnight ago.

“We applaud the efforts of City Power security and the General Manager. Arrests like these are just the beginning though,” Acting MMC for Environment & Infrastructure Services (EISD) councillor Leah Knott said.

“We need the South African Police Service and National Prosecuting Authority to play their part and ensure these culprits feel the full might of the law. Without successful convictions this widespread robbery will simply continue.”

Meanwhile EISD is also monitoring developments at a substation in Eldorado Park where a fire broke out at 5am on Friday.  The blaze has plunged surrounding areas into darkness and further hampered efforts by City Power to restore electricity to areas affected by multi-day outages. 

Johannesburg Emergency Management Services have successfully extinguished the fire and City Power technicians have already begun work on the site. Specialist teams have been deployed to start repairing the substation and investigating the cause of the incident. Acting MMC for EISD Leah Knott and Executive Mayor Mpho Phalatse will visit the site this afternoon at 1pm.

“It’s truly unfortunate that this is happening as City Power makes progress in dealing with the current unprecedented outages crisis in Johannesburg,” Acting MMC Knott said. 

“We understand this severely inconveniences residents of Eldorado Park and surrounds. But we appeal for patience and request anybody with any information pertaining to the cause of the fire to come forward immediately. City Power is working as fast as possible to rescue the situation.”

Issued by City of Joburg Acting MMC Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Leah Knott