Nearly six months after the eThekwini Municipality replaced 20 vandalised electricity poles at a cost of about R140 000 along a busy Durban freeway, the same poles have again been sabotaged.

Addressing members of the media at City Hall on Thursday, eThekwini Mayor James Nxumalo said cable theft is a serious problem in the Municipality and having to constantly replace damaged infrastructure is costing the City millions.

Nxumalo saw the vandalised concrete street poles along Solomon Mahlangu (Edwin Swales) Drive, earlier this week.

“This is clearly being done by an organised crime group. The previous street light poles that had been vandalised were made of steel. Our Electricity Unit then replaced the steel poles with concrete poles and those were again cut.

“We have a big challenge all the street poles are now lying down. Security must be beefed up in all strategic areas,” said Nxumalo.

Nxumalo added that the poles had been moved to the centre island to make them more difficult to access, but this clearly did not deter criminals.

Street lights cut at the base

When Nxumalo first visited the area in November last year, the tall street lights had been cut at the base of the poles on either side of a  one kilometre stretch of the road and the copper wiring had been removed before the criminals moved on to the next pole.

Once the poles were felled, they were also able to reach the lights-and steal some of them too.

With each new pole and installation costing R7 000, the Municipality had to pay R140 000 to replace the poles.

In a bid to counter cable theft, the City has changed from using wooden street poles to steel poles, running the copper cabling inside the new, taller steel poles.

Citizens have a role to play

Nxumalo said that someone must have seen something the night the thieves struck and urged anyone with information to contact the police.

“Acts of vandalism, like electricity and cable theft, cannot be addressed by the Municipality and the police alone. They call for vigilance from everyone and people must not look away when they know that their relatives, neighbours and friends are involved in such illicit activities,” said Nxumalo.

Cable theft and damage to infrastructure costs the City a conservative R40 million a year, with the total bill including indirect costs being a whopping R230 million.