When was the last time you reported cable theft or any destruction of public infrastructure in your area?

Authorities in the City of Joburg say they are fighting a losing battle against the theft of critical infrastructure and members of the community are not reporting these criminal syndicates.

Load shedding in major cities around the country is fueling the theft of millions of rands worth of electricity and data cables critical for the effective functioning of a modern metro.

Councillor Michael Sun, the member of the mayoral committee responsible for environment and infrastructure services, says cable thieves are running riot, stripping the city of key infrastructure.

The concern comes after Eskom announced Stage 6 load shedding on Wednesday - putting cables responsible for operating trains, the high-speed rail network Gautrain, and other communication networks at risk.

Theft of these data network cables results in signal interference, increasing the cost of doing business in the city and forcing major investors in the ICT sector to move out of the CBD.

Joburg's City Power says it is already spending over R100 million in ensuring the security of its infrastructure and more budget is needed in the current and next financial year.

On Wednesday, technicians worked for hours replacing over 113 tons of stolen cables in Riverlea and the surrounding area.

Last year, over 200 Jojo tanks that were erected in townships around the city to ensure communities in informal settlements access to clean water were simply stolen or vandalised.

In the last six months, City Power says it has arrested 147 cable thieves, but the siege continued during the festive season and it is expected to increase, with over 350 days of load shedding expected in 2023.

"Cities around the country are battling to keep their infrastructure running because, during load shedding, people attack their infrastructure and steal from it or sometimes just vandalise it," Sun told the media this week.

On Sunday, cables around South Road Bridge and Progress Road were stolen for the third time in a week, plunging Lindhaven, Groblerpark and Witpoortjie into extended power cuts.

On Wednesday, Eskom said it had lost over 5,000 MW of capacity after 11 generators broke down in eight power stations.