Cape Town - Eskom has called on Helderberg residents to co-operate with it after vandalism left hundreds without power.
Residents from parts of Somerset West and Strand were affected on Wednesday following vandalism at the Lourensrivier substation.
Eskom provincial spokesperson Kyle Cookson said the incident occurred at 11.17pm on Tuesday.
“The continuous theft and vandalism of Eskom infrastructure is impeding both basic service delivery and major infrastructure projects, as well as severely affecting the electricity restoration to customers…”
Field technicians and specialised construction teams were on-site assessing the damage, Cookson said.
“Unfortunately, there is still no estimated time for the restoration of supply. Eskom’s working with the City electricity department to establish the shortest restoration plan.”
A woman who works in Strand told the Cape Argus that the power outages had affected an entire day’s work.
“We couldn’t work, we couldn’t do anything. We were forced to come home,” she said.
The power station in Somerset West has experienced vandalism in the past, according to Niklaas Thysen, a spokesperson for the Strand Community Policing Forum (CPF).
He said the CPF was notified of power cables that had been stolen from the substation.
“The CPF urges the City of Cape Town to do more to prevent cable theft from their main power station in Somerset West soon,” he said.
Thysen asked for safety and security measures to be put in place to curb the vandalism and cable theft.
“The communities are very frustrated and unhappy that so many households are without power as well as the vulnerable elderly people making use of oxygen and other medical supplies,” he said.
Eskom has since set up a reward system to encourage residents to provide information that may lead to the arrests of perpetrators.
Members of the public can report such incidents by contacting the Eskom Toll-Free Crime Hotline 0800 112722 or police.