By Kaya 959 Reporter
A man was burnt to death after he allegedly broke into a substation that then exploded.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the man allegedly broke into the substation on 13th Street in Linden to steal parts when the substation caught alight and blew up.
“He was burnt beyond recognition. Emergency services and the police attended the scene which has since been cleared,” Mangena said.
Police recovered a spade and a saw from the scene.
Mangena has once again urged communities to refrain from vandalising electrical infrastructure.
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City Power issues warning
City Power has also warned people from lighting fires near electrical infrastructure.
Mangena said technicians responded to an outage in Heriotdale after transmission lines tripped as a result of smoke from a nearby veld fire.
“We cannot stress enough the severe impact veld fires have on the operation of transmission lines and the quality of electricity supply. We have recently had some outages affecting the 88KV and 11KV lines due to the fires in the pylon servitudes and we expect more of these during the dry season after winter. The hotspots of veld fires include Nasrec, Heriordale, Ennerdale and Pennyville,” he said.
He said City Power has a standing programme on the cutting of grass bushes and trees under the servitudes with the help of Joburg City Parks to ensure that they avoid the risk of fires and trees blown into the lines by the wind.
Mangena urges residents to refrain from lighting fires under or near infrastructure, which is illegal.
Mangena said they have been dealing with issues of vandalising mini substations, opening boxes and tripping breakers which he called deliberate acts of sabotage.
He added that City Power believed that there are those “hellbent on inconveniencing customers with power outages”.
Mangena called on communities to report suspicious behaviour. Contact Security Risk Control on 011 490 7900/ 7484 or call the local police.
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