City Power subcontractors arrested for bribery and tampering
|Published
City Power has confirmed that one of its subcontractor was arrested for tampering with street lights in Eldorado Park, while another was nabbed in Mayibuye for attempting to solicit a bribe in exchange for facilitating an illegal connection.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the two separate incidents happened this past weekend as the entity continued its crackdown on internal collaborators in the fight against theft, vandalism and illegal connections.
Mangena said that on Friday, February 23 2024, City Power officials had responded to a call from an employee who had been threatened by a subcontractor in Eldorado Park for illegally operating on faulty street lights in the Lenasia area.
“Upon arriving at the scene, operators found the street lights functioning. The subcontractor confessed to tampering with the electricity infrastructure. This prompted the operators to try and conduct a meter audit at the suspect’s property. However, they were denied entry and faced threats to their safety.”
Mangena said the suspect was eventually arrested and charged with tampering with essential infrastructure and has been detained at Eldorado Park police station.
“In a separate arrest that took place on Saturday, 24 February 2024, a contractor was caught illegally connecting a customer in Rabie Ridge, after soliciting a bribe worth R800. He was detained at Rabie Ridge police station.”
Mangena said the power utility was concerned about the involvement of its staffers and subcontractors in criminal activities.
“It is worrying that this comes as a trend of illegal connections in Mayibuye is beginning to rear its ugly head yet again, not long after completing the installation of meters in the area.
“City Power has strongly condemned the actions of these unscrupulous contractors. In our efforts to combat theft, vandalism, illegal connections and tampering, we have taken a firm stance by going after all the enablers within the entity.“
He said the latest arrests were due to the effectiveness of its crackdown operations which were yielding positive results.
“These recent arrests of contractors, along with fellow employees, are a testament to the effectiveness of our internal controls that have been put in place, coupled with collaboration with communities and law enforcement. In December last year, City Power launched an internal probe to expose any internal linkages to what seemed like an organised criminal syndicate targeting City Power infrastructure.
“As part of that plan, we have also deployed more security resources, with special focus on intelligence and the use of technology, to detect wrongdoing and respond timeously.“
City Power has issued a stern warning against contractors and employees involved in criminal activities.
“We strongly warn our employees against engaging in any form of illegal activity and urge customers to refrain from attempting to give our technicians and contractors any form of gratuity or bribe in exchange for illegal connections.
“Should a customer be found to have committed an act of bribery, he/she may be arrested, their power disconnected and stiff fine imposed,” he said.
The Star
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