City Power calls on Alexandra community to help identify suspects targeting electricity infrastructure

City Power is calling on the Alexandra community to help identify a suspect who allegedly shot at critical electricity infrastructure after a Pole-Mounted Transformer in Ward 116 along Vasco Street was shot at three times.
The incident occurred on 9 August 2026 at no 5 – 14th Avenue, in Alexandra and was reported to City Power on 10 August 2026, following a complaint about oil leaking from the transformer, which led to an outage in the area.

Three bullet holes were observed on the Pole-Mounted Transformer. City Power is appealing to residents and members of the public with information that could assist the investigation, including identifying and arresting the suspect/s, to come forward and report it to the South African Police Service (SAPS) or City Power security.

A criminal case relating to tampering with essential infrastructure has been opened with the police. Evidence recovered from the scene, including cartridge casings, was handed over to the police, while City Power’s Security Services Department is working with SAPS as part of the ongoing investigation of what is clearly a deliberate crime against the State.
City Power Acting CEO, Mr Charles Tlouane, condemned this criminality and said the attacks on electricity infrastructure are an attack on the community and further undermine efforts made to improve electricity supply and place an unnecessary burden on communities, technical staff and the entity.

“We strongly condemn this targeted, reckless and criminal attack on electricity infrastructure, which is an attack on the state. Shooting at a transformer is not only an attack on critical public infrastructure; it puts the lives of our employees at risk and creates fear among the very people who are expected to enter communities and restore electricity when faults and outages occur,” said Tlouane. “Following this incident, and many others where our technicians have been attacked, hijacked, and robbed of step-ladders and toolboxes, our electricians have required security escorts when attending to outages in hostile areas, including Alexandra. This is completely unacceptable. Our teams must be able to do their work of serving communities without fear, while residents must be able to rely on us to respond and restore their electricity,” added Tlouane.

“This is a major incident, and we will not allow criminal activity deliberately targeting electricity infrastructure to become normalised. We urge anyone with information that could assist the investigation to come forward and report it to the authorities. Working together, we can ensure that those responsible are identified and brought to justice,” concluded Tlouane. This incident forms part of the broader challenge of protecting essential electricity infrastructure from criminal activity, including cable theft, vandalism and illegal connections.

Across all City Power Service Delivery Centre (SDC) supply areas, the entity recorded 1,138 infrastructure-related crime incidents during the 2024/25 financial year and 1,054 during 2025/26, representing an overall decline. Despite this improvement, attacks on critical infrastructure continue to threaten reliable power supply and can result in prolonged outages and delays in restoring power to affected communities. The financial impact of such damage can also be significant, with similar transformers costing R400,000 or more to replace, excluding labour and depending on the equipment required.

Damage to critical equipment therefore places an additional financial burden on the electricity network and affects City Power’s ability to direct resources towards maintenance, network improvement projects and repairs. The latest incident comes against the backdrop of City Power’s intensified efforts to engage directly with communities, with the inaugural Electricity Imbizo held in Alexandra this week. During the engagement, prolonged outages caused by cable theft, illegal connections and other challenges were raised as obstacles to stable electricity supply in the township.

The inaugural Alexandra Electricity Imbizo, held on 18 August 2026, formed part of these broader efforts to strengthen the relationship between City Power and the community and address electricity challenges through a stronger social compact. The Imbizo also stressed the importance of community activism in the protection of electricity infrastructure through partnerships with Community Policing Forums and Patrollers.

City Power is appealing to the Alexandra community to play an active role in protecting the electricity network by reporting suspicious activity, suspected tampering, vandalism, cable theft and illegal connections. Information can be reported to the City Power Security Risk Management Control Room on 011 490 7900 or 011 490 7911, or via WhatsApp on 083 579 4497.