At first, they thought it was load shedding. It was only after hours that residents of Kwanobuhle in Kariega realised the entire township had been plunged into darkness.
Residents of Kwanobuhle township have not had any electricity since Friday. Brazen cable thieves saw to this when they stole about 66 KV worth of electricity cables at the San Souci substation just outside the township.
Gogo Nomakhosazana Peter, 77, told Scrolla.Africa they are now used to being without electricity between load shedding and cable theft.
"Every other week residents in this township have to go without electricity not even due to load shedding but because of cable thieves. These criminals are shameless, they even steal cables in broad daylight.
"The worst part is that they are known in most communities but nobody is willing to report anything. They must be working for a bigger criminal organisation," Peter said.
Another resident, Simthandile Mangesi, said that cable thieves had come to his home on two consecutive days to steal copper cables while his family was paralysed with fear inside the house.
"They had come around 10 am while my mother was alone in the house the first day. The second day it was in the afternoon, during peak hours. The kids were also home but they locked themselves in the house, scared to even move," he told Scrolla.Africa.
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Electricity and Energy MCM Lance Grootboom said cable theft in NMB is rampant.
"We are concerned that in the last seven days, NMB has seen 23 major electricity substation outages across all communities, with the latest vandalism affecting seven wards in the KwaNobuhle cluster.
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"I have requested a detailed report on all recent outages and specifically requested that if instances of a lack of maintenance or sabotage are discovered that strict accountability and action is taken against any persons implicated," Grootboom said.
NMB Executive Mayor Retief Odendaal has even offered a reward to anyone that may come forward with information.
"My office will also be making available a reward in the amount of R20,000 to anyone that can provide us with information that will lead to the arrest of these criminals," he said.
Odendaal added that a specialised team had been dispatched from Gauteng to assist with the complicated repair work.
Work to restore electricity to the affected communities is expected to be completed on Tuesday.
