City Power: Rise in vandalism in underground tunnels causing unscheduled power outages

JOHANNESBURG - Johannesburg City Power has reported a rise in vandalism in their underground tunnels, resulting in unscheduled power outages.  

The utility claimed that some of the alleged criminals live in the tunnels and target equipment, such as power cables.  

Recently, residents and businesses in Johannesburg's CBD were plunged into darkness due to persistent cable theft.  

Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said these culprits also pose a danger to City Power personnel tasked with repairing the damaged infrastructure.  

“There have been some shootouts in the past, and we came out to indicate the dangers that our teams are always involved in when they have to respond to some of the outages that are happening under the tunnels. A month ago, we've had about two of those criminals shot in a shootout with our security teams, and one of our security guys was actually critically injured.”