How Joburgers keep lights on

AGREEMENTS: RESIDENTS WORK HAND-IN-HAND WITH CITY POWER TO PROTECT INFRASTRUCTURE

- Zanele Mji

BLATANT THEFT. Illegal electrical connections in Kensington, Johannesburg.

(Picture: Ihsaan Haffejee)

Johannesburg's cable theft crisis has forced communities to pick up the slack left by City Power and the South African Police Service (Saps).

With the electricity entity struggling to maintain its core operations and Saps similarly overburdened, residents are using what resources they can to keep the lights on.

Inequality in resources - from security guards and surveillance in some areas to unarmed community foot patrols in others - determines how different parts of the city experience and respond to electricity-related crimes.

In the middleand upper-class suburbs of Greenside, Parktown North and Kensington, private security firms have taken a front-line role in protecting electricity infrastructure. Security officers often encounter cable thieves during routine patrols, act as first responders and share crime intelligence with the police.

Locks and chains can be seen on electrical infrastructure in Kensington.

City Power formalises this cooperation through signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with security firms and residents, as part of their Community Partnerships Programme.

"The programme is an initiative in which businesses, customers, security companies, and residents' associations voluntarily adopt and protect City Power's network infrastructure. The application form is available at the City Power security risk management department," spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.

"Currently, City Power has signed over 800 agreements."