The municipality says it has experienced a few incidents where criminals vandalised and stole some of its property and as a result, this affected its service delivery in Harrismith and Phuthaditjhaba.

In response to OFM News’ written questions, the municipal spokesperson, Kedibone Sentle, says following the recent incident where four people were arrested for sabotaging the municipality’s property, the municipality implemented a temporary measure to restore electricity and water in the affected areas. Sentle says major issues the municipality faces, include sabotage, vandalism, and cable theft. The main Harrismith sub-station was also damaged by lightning on Tuesday. Sentle says the ailing municipality has been able to restore 80% of power supply to the affected communities, following a comprehensive assessment on the extent of the damage.

However, the municipality says some critical economic areas, including industrial areas, water treatments plants sites, and farms are still affected. Sentle says this has raised red flags on the economical hub of the municipality, Harrismith, as failure to supply electricity for business purposes may lead to job losses in the already constrained job market.

OFM News previously reported that the Police spokesperson, Mmako Mophiring, confirmed to OFM News that the private security officials and two Phuthaditjhaba detectives seized apparatus such as pliers from suspects were they allegedly tampered with the water and electricity supply. Mophiring also told OFM News that more arrests are expected and the four will appear in court on 11 December 2018.

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL), Leona Kleynhans, told OFM News she struggles to understand why people would want to sabotage the ailing municipality that already experiences difficulties with providing proper services to its residents. Kleynhans further labelled the incident as a nonsensical crime.

OFM News