City Power technicians increasingly at risk of attacks by criminals

Not only do City Power technicians have to deal with the hazards of working with electricity, they also risk confrontations with criminals.

On Tuesday an operator on his way to Pennyville to restore the power supply after load-shedding was held at gunpoint and robbed of his cellphone and nearly hijacked, the entity said.

In Midrand operators were barricaded in the Allendale substation by members of the community who wanted to stop them doing the manual switchover to implement load-shedding. At the weekend electricians were robbed at gunpoint in Randburg.

Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said: “City Power is deeply worried and outraged by continuing attacks on our operators.

“These blatant and cowardly acts of criminality are making the work of City Power employees increasingly difficult.

“Almost every month cases of intimidation, assault and robbery come to our attention and are reported to the police. This problem is deeply troubling because many other employees have also been held at gunpoint, robbed of cellphones, laptops, toolboxes, hijacked and injured to the point of hospitalisation, all while on duty and servicing communities across Johannesburg.”

The attacks occur in different parts of the city.

In October, two female officials were robbed at gunpoint while on duty on Wemmer Street in Roodepoort. In July three technicians were attacked in Lenasia while responding to a faulty meter. Their two vehicles were hijacked. The cars were later found abandoned near the Meriting informal settlement in Lenasia South.

In 2022 in Alexandra, teams were attacked and robbed and a team of technicians hijacked at gunpoint in Far East Bank.

“A harrowing incident that took place around this time last year involved a 53-year-old City Power official who was hit several times with stones and sharp objects, resulting in him spending more than a month in ICU fighting for his life. This violent attack happened during a cut-off operation in Hillbrow,” Mangena said.

“It is for this reason City Power took a decision to withdraw overnight services in areas deemed to be hotspots. Even with additional security measures, we cannot guarantee the safety of our personnel. This is not sustainable considering during the worst times we deal with close to 4,000 outage calls that need to be dispatched.

“It is concerning that the entity has to enlist the help of the Johannesburg metropolitan police department and private security to deliver services to communities.”

Mangena urged communities to help ensure technicians can work without fear of losing their lives.

“One victim of a violent attack told City Power in the past the only thing they used to worry about was staying safe from the dangers of working with electricity. Now, however, they say their daily prayer is about returning to their home at the end of a work day without being attacked by criminals or killed.”

TimesLIVE