- Parts of Roodepoort were left in the dark following cable theft at one of its substations.
- Two people were arrested and found with broken padlocks and steel-cutting equipment.
- Electricity has since been restored to the vandalised substation.
Two men have been arrested for vandalism after allegedly stealing electricity infrastructure in Roodepoort, Gauteng, City Power has said.
According to the electricity provider, the two men were arrested on Tuesday night after cutting locks and gaining access to a substation chamber in Florida.
The two men allegedly stole cables, resulting in the power going off in the area, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.
Mangena said:
Mangena added that the men were handed over to police, and cases of vandalism and theft were opened.
READ | 26 suspected cable thieves to appear in Mpumalanga court
The vandalism at the substation left Florida and parts of Roodepoort with outages.
Mangena said: "Just this week, Fleurhof, Witpoortjie, Discovery were some of the areas near where the suspects were arrested, that had incidents of cable theft and vandalism (sic)."
He said police were asked to also investigate a possible link between the two men and recent power outages in the area.
Mangena added that the arrests came after security was beefed up to curb cable theft.
He said City Power had appealed to the justice cluster to hand out harsh punishments to people found guilty of cable theft.
Power at the vandalised substation in Florida has been restored.
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