Under siege City Power spends R100m to keep staff safe

Escalating attacks on Johannesburg employees responsible for electricity supply have seen City Power spend about R100m on private security to ensure the safety of its staff to deliver services.

This emerged after another attack on technicians in Alexandra.

According to City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, last year the utility spent about R100m for private security to protect its technicians who are increasingly facing threats, intimidation and violent attacks while working in high-risk areas. 

He said this was not sustainable.

On a normal day the utility deals with about 200 outages and its teams are sometimes escorted by metro police officers. 

“That is taking away resources from law enforcement by metro police, enforcement of bylaws [and] traffic control. It is not practical for that to happen. We end up diverting resources from our own money to hire private security to escort some of the teams in the hotspot areas,” he said.

In a recent incident, five technicians were held hostage by an angry mob at Vezinyawo in Alexandra.

Some of the technicians said they were attacked, beaten up and saw people climbing on top of city vehicles, making it difficult for them to escape.

Bethel Monyethabeng, 20, a part-time assistant technician, said he and his colleagues started installing meter boxes in the area last Sunday and did not encounter any issues with residents.

However, tensions escalated when they returned to continue the work the next day. “The group [of residents] approached me and ordered me to walk to them. At first, I wanted to run because they seemed angry. They instructed me to call the bosses because they have not had power [for some time].

“When I was about to go to fetch my phone, one of them asked where I was going and then slapped me. Another one also joined him and slapped me while another one grabbed me by my T-shirt and tore it. It was a bad experience and I told myself I would never set foot in Alexandra again,” he said.

Mangena said the mob seized vehicle keys, demanding power be restored before the keys could be given back to the technicians. One person fled the scene with the car keys.

Metro police, police and TSS Security Services were dispatched to the scene. Tow trucks were arranged to move the stranded bakkies to the nearest City Power service delivery centre.

Another technician, Unahena Hobyane, said: “I am a big man but I was scared that day. Residents were so angry and threatened us that we were not going anywhere until electricity is back.

“They told us to take the bakkies and park them at a specific spot. They were sitting on top of the bakkies and we feared they were going to damage the vehicles. It just looked like we were going to go home injured. They were aggressive and there was nothing we could have done to calm them down.”

The 21-year-old employee said City Power has since told them they would start travelling with security guards when heading out on calls. “I am never going back to the same site [Alex] because it might happen again.”

Monyethabeng echoed his sentiments. “I was the only person who was beaten. I wanted to run but I couldn't. I was scared and I doubt I will set foot there unless they send me to other areas, but not Alexandra because of what I experienced. I am done because what if it happens again?

“That day, we spent the whole day without eating. We were afraid to move. I was scared I was going to get beaten up. What these people fail to understand is we were there to install meters and we don't know anything about restoring electricity.”

City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava condemned the violence, saying criminality and intimidation would not be tolerated. “We are committed to enforcing the rule of law and protecting our employees who work daily under difficult and often dangerous conditions to bring services to communities.”

Themba Magwaza, of stakeholder relations for City Power in Alexandra, said they restored power to the area last week after residents started co-operating. “Most residents here do not buy electricity, they connect illegally and when we install meters they protest. As winter approaches we are going to see more protests from people demanding we reconnect them while they do not pay for the electricity.”

City Power has experienced violent attacks in several areas and was forced to suspend services in River Park in Alexandra, Rabie Ridge in Midrand and Naturena, south of Johannesburg, among other areas.

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