Repeated cable and transformer theft is stripping Dimbaza of its electricity infrastructure, leaving residents guarding equipment at night and businesses struggling without power.
Buffalo City Metro employees are among those arrested and municipal machinery has allegedly been used to dig up cables.
Police have made 13 arrests in connection with cable theft and infrastructure damage in the area over the past year, while cables have been recovered in 27 incidents.
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Col Siphokazi Mawisa said BCM officials had been arrested in one incident while allegedly digging up electricity cables using a municipal TLB.
“No syndicate was positively identified during the reported period,” Mawisa said.
“However, there was an incident where BCM officials were arrested digging [up] electric cables using the municipal TLB.”
She did not provide the exact number of the arrested BCM officials.
Of the 27 incidents of cable recoveries, 11 were linked to reported cases and 16 were confiscated as suspected stolen property, she said.
BCM says replacing a stolen transformer and associated electricity infrastructure could cost more than R300,000.
In Nomgwadla, a rural settlement adjacent to Dimbaza, resident Lulama Gaika said the community’s electricity transformer had been stolen three times since 2024.
A fourth attempt was foiled at about 1am on Tuesday after residents were alerted by barking dogs.
“I went to investigate and saw a bakkie parked nearby and a man hanging from a rope, fiddling with the device,” a resident who asked to remian anonymous said.
“I called my neighbours, who responded quickly alongside Dimbaza police, but the suspects managed to scramble back into their bakkie and escaped.”
Residents have formed a community-watch WhatsApp group to alert one another to suspicious activity and conduct patrols at night.
Gaika said repeated blackouts were devastating rural households.
“Our children are forced to bathe in cold water before school, and our food spoils in unpowered fridges.
“Because our houses are far apart, the pitch-black conditions give stock thieves free rein to steal our cattle and goats.
“It is a constant struggle, and we are now having to guard transformers with our lives,” he said.
Gaika suspects those responsible have technical expertise.
“We suspect they are qualified technicians because they are so efficient — they never make noise or mistakes.”
The electricity crisis is also taking its toll on businesses.
In Nyanisweni, a local panelbeater who would only identify himself as Sisa, said he had abandoned his workshop after encountering at least 15 balaclava-clad men stealing a transformer metres from his bedroom.
“I opened the door and saw 15 armed, masked men. I retreated inside to protect my family.
“Eventually, the continuous theft and lack of power forced me to close down,” he said.
At the Dimbaza Industrial Zone, BCM teams were replacing a stolen transformer supplying local factories, a school hostel and a funeral parlour.
“We are tired of doing the same job over and over,” a municipal technician, who did not want to be named, said.
“Almost every week we have to come back here to replace stolen transformers and cables. This issue is completely out of hand.”
Mawisa said police had intensified patrols and were using crime intelligence to try to identify those responsible.
She said prosecutions were being hampered by difficulties establishing ownership of abandoned factories.
“The suspects get bail easily because of that, and the cases are sometimes struck off the roll at court due to a shortage of statements from the owners.
“Police have noted that the suspects are repeatedly involved in the same crime because they know the challenge of ownership of the old factories,” she said.
BCM spokesperson Luzuko Buku said electricity theft and vandalism were rife in Dimbaza.
“The theft of a transformer is even more brazen and shocking — indicating the extent to which electricity theft is organised because you need a heavy vehicle to transport a transformer,” Buku said.
He said the metro had previously recovered a stolen transformer being used to supply an illegal connection to an informal settlement.
Buku said repairing a transformer and associated electricity infrastructure cost more than R300,000 and Dimbaza had now been placed on a high-risk response list.
“We will improve monitoring and response on all similar incidents in the area.
“Our electricity department is also exploring alternative ways of supplying the area.”
Buku also confirmed the arrest of a municipal employee and said BCM had participated in the operation.
“In fact, as a municipality, we were part of the teams that arrested the mentioned employee, and we actually find it appalling that someone employed to serve the city would do such a thing.”
Daily Dispatch