Bring an end to illegal electricity connections- Shongwe

Bring an end to illegal electricity connections- Shongwe 

Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe have called on Emalahleni Municipality to come up with a strategy to urgently bring an end to illegal electricity connections in the area particularly in informal settlements.

Shongwe was responding after one of the residents who spoke during the Public Hearings conducted on Wednesday, 4 March 2015 at Lynville Stadium near Emalahleni said most of the people in informal settlements were connecting electricity illegally. The hearings were part of Taking Legislature to the People (TLP) Programme taking place from 2 to 6 March 2015 in the Municipality.

Shongwe said the Municipality should work closely with the police in order to curb the illegal connections of electricity as it robs the Municipality of much needed revenue. He said the lost revenue negatively affected the Municipality’s ability to deliver quality services to the residents.

He said community members should always pay for the services that they receive so that adequate development takes place across the Municipality. “We need to urgently bring an end to izinyokanyoka who are hell-bent on turning Emalahleni into a banana Municipality. People must pay for their services and those who steal electricity must face the consequences of their actions,” Shongwe said.

The MEC has further called on the residents to work with the police to deal with the scourge of Nyaope and other drugs in the area. He has pleaded with parents not to relegate their responsibilities to the police. He said parents should monitor their children’s behavior so that they are able to determine if they have started using drugs. He said parents’ early intervention could go a long way towards eradicating drug abuse in young people.

He has also pleaded with the Municipality to demolish all unoccupied buildings as they pose threat to community members. Shongwe explained that criminals constantly take advantage of structures that go unoccupied for longer periods of time to conduct their clandestine activities. He said the Municipality should look out for such structures and once they identify them, if owners are untraceable such structures should be destroyed for the benefit of the community.

At the hearings, one of the residents complained that some police officers were using state vehicles to transport drugs or perpetuate other forms of crime. It was also alleged that some vehicles are often seen in sectors which are not allocated to. Community members say this affect police’s response time to complaints or crime scenes. Another community member also complained that police at Witbank once refused to open a case and they sent the complainant back to Kriel Police Station instead of opening a case.

Other community members pleaded with the MEC to assist local youth who are volunteering their services as patrol team members with the local CPF by providing them with stipends and protective clothing so that they are motivated to assist in crime prevention initiatives in the area. Residents have also asked the MEC to be allowed to apprehend crime suspects in the area when they come across and thereafter call the police.

Responding to some of the issues raised by the community, Shongwe said that police do not have a right to turn complainants away when they come to police stations. He explained that it is the duty of the police to open cases for crime victims and where necessary refer such cases to relevant police stations rather turning the complainants way.

He has urged the community members to always take names of SAPS officials assisting them at various points so that when they are not assisted properly they know who the officials are. The MEC explained that it is pointless to generalize when complaining about the disservice that they receive when they do not have specific information.

The MEC has also called on community not to take law into their own hands when they come across crime suspects. He said that they should rather arrest the suspect and call the police and hand over those suspects.

Shongwe also told the gathering that the department will continue to work with the police on various crime prevention initiatives in the area but said that communities must also assist by reporting any criminal activities that they see so that perpetrators could face the full might of the law.