By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za
City Power has pulled its resource out of Jeppestown, Joburg, following the attack on its technicians.
The team, comprising four technicians, was attending to outage calls, and were connecting customers on the overhead lines around Wolhuter and Auret Street in Jeppestown this morning when they were attacked by at least six unknown criminals.
“The six men pointed our technicians with guns and took phones and money from them.
They also assaulted them, leaving one badly injured.
“All these happened in full view of the community. The technicians were there to assist with electricity.
“We decided not to finish the repairs and we pulled our team out of the area until their safety is guaranteed,” Spokesperson for City Power, Isaac Mangena said.
Mangena said the power utility was calling on the police to do everything to ensure the criminals were arrested and brought to book.
“The recent attack comes after the attacks on our teams in Hillbrow and Alexandra last month, which left one of our technicians still hospitalized as we speak.
“We appeal to the community to stand up against the criminals who attack municipal workers as this affects service delivery in their areas.
” While an option of escorts remain on the table, it will be a costly and unnecessary exercise as we expect the community to cooperate with our workers serving them.
“We have already decided not to attend to outage calls at night in some hostile communities for the safety of our property and technicians, until those communities guarantee their safety.”
He said they were engaging local Community Policing Forums in different regions to ensure “they work with us to protect our teams”.