BCM clamps down on illegal electricity connections

Buffalo City Metro officials dismantled illegal electricity connections in Nompumelelo informal settlement, Beacon Bay, on Wednesday.

Metro spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said illegal connections were "threatening to paralyse the municipality’s power network".

According to Ngwenya, more than 280 illegal connections in various areas across the city have been removed. The number of days these raids were made amounts to 281 times. 

"Illegal connections in Nompumelelo date back to 2013 ... since its inception. Each year illegal connections are mushrooming and this becomes a challenge," said Ngwenya. 

The city planned to relocate residents in the area and has temporarily installed electricity in areas that were suitable, he said.

Speaking about Nompumelelo informal settlements during his state of the city address last week, mayor Xola Pakati said: “The bulk of our capital expenditure has gone towards the maintenance, upgrade and refurbishment of our electricity infrastructure in order to ensure reliability and consistency.”

In the next financial year, according to Pakati, the metro will spend R121 million, with R18 million set aside for electrification, thus electrifying an additional 133 households and 700 informal dwelling. 

“Buffalo City remains the fastest place to obtain an electricity connection in South Africa,” Ngwenya said.

"We are calling on communities to report those behind these illegal activities and also reject those that approach them with the aim of either tempering their meters or connecting them illegally on the grid. We are working very closely with the police and the organised crime unit and we will be taking legal action against these illegal connectors, in terms of the criminal amendments act. The municipality has had arrests and successful convictions in the past."

Ngwenya said the city loses millions of rands worth of electricity every year because of illegal connections.