City of Tshwane Mamelodi held hostage

City of Tshwane disconnects services
Photo: Twitter @CityTshwane

City of Tshwane officials held hostage by Mamelodi residents

City of Tshwane officials were held hostage in Mamelodi East. Community members also chased away metro police who were called in to assist.

City of Tshwane Mamelodi held hostage

City of Tshwane disconnects services
Photo: Twitter @CityTshwane

The City of Tshwane Municipality has condemned Mamelodi East residents who allegedly held officials hostage following an electricity trip on Tuesday night. 

The officials were forced to disconnect electricity in another suburb. The community is said to have been angry after a 132kv trip at the Mamelodi2 Substation after load shedding. 

CITY OF TSHWANE OFFICIALS HELD HOSTAGE IN MAMELODI 

According to the City of Tshwane, teams were on site attending to a service interruption when community members held operators hostage and forced them to switch off electricity at Nellmapius Extension 22 and 24. 

The community members are reportedly serviced by the Mamelodi Hinterland Substation. 

The City of Tshwane said the officials had no choice but to comply for safety reasons. The community is said to have chased away Metro Police who were called to assist. 

“A decision was taken to hastily withdraw all the teams from sites in Mamelodi for safety reasons to prevent the community from forcing them to perform further illegal operations. 

“The situation remains tense and traumatised officials are reluctant to go out and attend to service interruptions in Ext 6 and 10, especially out of fear of being kidnapped or harmed.” 

City of Tshwane

A meeting was also held on Wednesday morning between City of Tshwane officials and Councillors in the affected areas with a view to find an amicable solution that would lead the officials to resuming with their duties in an environment that is not characterised by fear, threats and intimidation. 

Spokesperson, Selby Bokaba said this developing phenomenon of harassment and robbery of officials while on duty has been experienced in Nellmapius, parts of Soshanguve and now some sections in Mamelodi. 

“Service interruptions relating to water and electricity occur from time to time due to a slew of factors such as cable theft, vandalism of infrastructure and illegal connection. The daily load shedding imposed by power utility Eskom has compounded the problem as the fragile electricity infrastructure is not designed to be switched on and off frequently,” he said. 

ALSO READ: City of Tshwane: 8-hour water shutdown in Cullinan on Wednesday

Tags: