The City of Cape Town’s Energy teams have been attending to serious, repeated and costly damage to electrical infrastructure in the Lower Woodstock area and surrounding the City’s Tide Street Substation, and others. Law enforcement is monitoring the area and the City will continue to investigate the use of theft and vandalism-proof materials to reduce risk.
The infrastructure, some of it brand new, remains vulnerable to the recurring criminal incidents in the vicinity of the unlawful occupation on the Transnet Prasa-owned land. The latest incident took place on 2 November 2026. Some outages impacting medium voltage cables have also not been sufficiently repaired, as there are structures built over the cables, making it difficult to fix the infrastructure.
This situation is unacceptable, dangerous to the perpetrators and surrounding communities and a complete waste of public funds, as the damage has to be fixed repeatedly at great cost.
The incidents of theft and vandalism total about R8 million – and this excludes labour and other repair-related costs. The targeted electrical infrastructure includes new and existing substations, cables on Transnet-land, switchgear as well as various control panels and transformers, including low- and medium-voltage infrastructure.
Vandalism and theft have also impacted the MyCiTi operations and infrastructure due to damaged and stolen cables. In fact, the streetlights on the MyCiTi route from the City’s Safe Spaces Culemborg Shelter all the way to Paarden Eiland are still out of order due to the vandalism-related complexities.
The impact of the criminality is huge. It is a completely unsustainable situation. All recent and historic instances have been reported to the SAPS for investigation as the lead investigative authority.
City teams continue to see if there are feasible options to secure electricity infrastructure and supply in this area. City law enforcement is also monitoring the area.
Regrettably, an eviction order was brought by Transnet Pty Ltd (Transnet). The main eviction application was granted but the occupants have brought an appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal, which suspends the possibility of executing the eviction order. The City and Transnet are appealing the ruling given the serious public risks associated with the continued unlawful occupation of the Transnet-owned land and the impacts on authorities, service delivery, public finances and the electrical supply of City residential and commercial customers in the area.
Besides the legal action, the City continues to pursue anti-theft and vandalism solutions, in this area and other hot spot areas across the metro.
The City apologises for the inconvenience and will continue to do all it can to protect security of supply despite the great challenges that the unlawful occupation is posing.
