Eskom’s relentless power cuts are being linked to an upsurge in crime in some Cape Town suburbs, with housebreakers and robbers making hay while the lights don’t shine.
‘Our crime is climbing,” says Susan Jantjies. She belongs to a neighbourhood watch in Delft on the Cape Flats, where she says there have been increases in cable theft, housebreakings and robberies as load shedding reaches the upper stages.South Africa has had 960 hours of continuous power cuts since the start of 2022.. Some blackouts last for more than four hours at a time.that the Delft area had power cuts on Monday from 8am to 12.30pm and again from 4pm to 8.
With power cuts often happening when people go to work early or return in the evening, Jantjies said, “What do you think will happen… people get robbed, raped.” Colin Dehart said that in Mitchells Plain, the power cuts made it easier for criminals to operate. Dehart is part of a neighbourhood watch and is vice-chairperson of the CPF. He said cable theft during power cuts was a big problem and that criminals targeted people when they saw them walking home at night using their cellphones as torches.
Van Wyk said there was no evidence to “suggest that incidents of crime are more rife during load shedding, as proper operational planning is done to ensure an effective policing service, with or without electricity”.: “Kindly be advised that due to a national moratorium, crime statistics are not disclosed to the media.”that it was more a case of “petty opportunists doing bad things when the power goes out”.
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