Gqeberha's St Augustine's Cathedral experienced prolonged power outages throughout December, caused by vandalism at a nearby substation.

Rampant vandalism at an electricity substation left the 159-year-old St Augustine's Cathedral in Prospect Hill, Gqeberha, without electricity for most of December.

The ongoing vandalism of municipal infrastructure in Gqeberha also affects water, sanitation, cemeteries and libraries, causing service delivery disruptions and financial losses, especially in the electricity directorate.

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The metro has been battling to secure its critical infrastructure, despite its controversial hiring of more than 600 private security guards in the 2019/20 financial year.

The insourcing of the guards led to increased costs, prompting the metro to revert to the use of private security companies while the absorbed group remains permanently employed.

The St Augustine's Cathedral priest-in-charge, Father Jerry Browne, said the contractor who attended to the initial power outage at the cathedral left an exposed electricity cable in the church house.

"On 10 December, electricity went out, and half the complex was off. I reported the matter, and it was restored eight days later. The contractor did a temporary job, leaving the electricity switchboard in the church house exposed," said Browne.

"The contractor came back and made things worse by removing the tape that covered a wire; now it has also been left exposed."

Browne said the contractor...