The City of Tshwane on Monday announced that it has disconnected 1 000 illegal electricity connections in Pretoria West.
Working with the Tshwane Metro Police Department and the South Africa Police Service, the City said it recently executed an operation to disconnect illegal electricity connections in Lotus Gardens, Pretoria West.
“This area has been negatively affected by many incidents of overloading due to illegal connections, resulting in regular trips after load-shedding throughout winter,” said Mayor of Tshwane Randall Williams.
The multistakeholder operation focused on illegal connections in Fig, Acer and Eucalyptus Avenue, including five mini substations that were tampered with.
“An estimated value of R750 000 of electrical material was recovered during the operation, including 140 m of 120 mm aluminium cable conductors and five drums of aluminium bundle conductors,” said Mayor Williams.
“This large-scale operation led to the successful removal of approximately 1 000 illegal connections in the Lotus Gardens area.
“This follows our previous operation where we disconnected about 800 illegal connections in Brazzaville informal settlement. We intend to continue with these operations across all Tshwane regions.
“The City has, however, extended an olive branch to households and businesses with illegal connections.”
Mayor Williams added, “as of today, the Amnesty Programme for electricity, water theft, and meter tampering is in effect.
“The Amnesty Programme is a special once-off opportunity for residents to come forward and declare their illegal connections before the City takes harsh actions, which include disconnection, heavy fines, and legal action.”
To apply for the Amnesty Programme, clients can visit www.tshwane.gov.za or email amnesty@tshwane.gov.za.
Amnesty application forms will also be made available at all City customer care walk-in-centres across the seven regions of Tshwane.
The amnesty period is from 1 August 2022 until 30 September 2022.
