The City of Tshwane says it has removed an estimated R400,000 of electrical material during its operation to disconnect 800 illegal connections at the Brazzaville informal settlement in Atteridgeville on Tuesday.

The recovered material included 11kV overhead lines, aluminium conductors and aluminium aerial-bundle conductors.

The teams also removed three medium-voltage transformers.

“This is a significant set of stolen infrastructure. Illegal connections are the reason many areas experience power trips after load-shedding, which result in extended power outages. This is made worse by the theft of city infrastructure, such as cables, conductors and transformers,” said MMC for utilities and regional operations Daryl Johnston. 

The city's energy and electricity department, working with the Tshwane metro police and SAPS Danville station members disconnected 800 illegal electricity connections at Brazzaville on Tuesday.

Johnston said illegal connections cost the city hundreds of millions of rand in damages to infrastructure and repairs and affected businesses and residents.

“These result in significant non-revenue losses that destroy the city’s finances. It is important that we do everything possible to prevent this scourge. This latest operation is one of many the city is participating in to protect electricity infrastructure,” he said.

He said the illegal connections were connected to the Phelindaba overhead line which supplies areas such as Schurveberg AH and other nearby businesses.

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