Bedfordview stuck without power for 4-5 days after failed cable theft

[Jan]

Days-long Eskom power outage after cable theft

Bedfordview residents can expect to be without power for days after a critical power cable was damaged in a failed attempt to steal it, Eskom said in a statement on Tuesday.

The cable supplies the City of Ekurhuleni's Bedfordview substation.

 

[PaulMurkin]

And due to the incompetence and lack of knowledge on splicing and more, the 4-5 days is justified.
Utter and complete bullschitt... what a joke. Incompetence has a whole new level.

That cable can be spliced in 12 hours.... Oh wait... probably have to go scratch money together to buy a jointing kit, et-cetera.

 

[joshuatree]

Don't want to state the obvious, but that is really bad.

Good luck.

 

[deweyzeph]

How the hell do you even attempt to steal a live cable that carries that much voltage? Or do these guys have the inside track on how to cut the power to the line?

 

[SpiderGear]

How the hell do you even attempt to steal a live cable that carries that much voltage? Or do these guys have the inside track on how to cut the power to the line?

The power is pulsed like an electric fence, as you can see in the video. The trick is to time your hacksaw cuts precisely..

 

[deweyzeph]

The power is pulsed like an electric fence, as you can see in the video. The trick is to time your hacksaw cuts precisely..

I'm surprised they didn't find some very charred bodies next to that cable. But it looks like those guys probably gave up when they realised Darwin was coming for them if they cut any further.

 

[KikzAzz]

Would reporting it to the police really make a difference. From experienced it would be ignored.

 

[PaulMurkin]

How the hell do you even attempt to steal a live cable that carries that much voltage? Or do these guys have the inside track on how to cut the power to the line?

Inside info, they know which breaker to switch off and where. If you look at the photo, they started, then stopped for reasons unknown. If the cable is live when they steal it like that, usually a spectacular explosion results. But these guys are connected with inside info via City Power.

 

[epah]

Oh no, all that month end woolies groceries going to rot in the fridge. Poor bedford mafias

 

[PaulMurkin]

I'm surprised they didn't find some very charred bodies next to that cable. But it looks like those guys probably gave up when they realised Darwin was coming for them if they cut any further.

I think they were disturbed, saw a cop car or some such, or a community policing forum member driving by..

 

[Not_original]

The power is pulsed like an electric fence, as you can see in the video. The trick is to time your hacksaw cuts precisely..

Idk 50hz is pretty fast. Those guys should try out for the cricket team, no one will ever hit their bowlings.

 

[Gazg]

Cable, overhead line and infrastructure theft is rampant in SA at the moment.

 

[Gazg]

And due to the incompetence and lack of knowledge on splicing and more, the 4-5 days is justified.
Utter and complete bullschitt... what a joke. Incompetence has a whole new level.

That cable can be spliced in 12 hours.... Oh wait... probably have to go scratch money together to buy a jointing kit, et-cetera.

The cable can be terminated and jointed in even half that time.

 

[PaulMurkin]

The cable can be terminated and jointed in even half that time.

I have no doubt, 12 hours factoring in laziness and time for talking schitt to one another.

 

[porchrat]

it's so evil that people are prepared to plunge a whole area into darkness for a few hundred rands worth of copper cable at the scrapyard.

Children struggling to study, families unable to cook, no lighting to protect against other criminal elements that mean even greater harm. There is something wrong with these people. They lack a moral compass.

 

[PaulMurkin]

it's so evil that people are prepared to plunge a whole area into darkness for a few hundred rands worth of copper cable at the scrapyard.

Children struggling to study, families unable to cook, no lighting to protect against other criminal elements that mean even greater harm. There is something wrong with these people. They lack a moral compass.

ANC indoctrination... what else?

 

[RedViking]

I laughed, not because it is funny, but because it is sad.

 

[PaulMurkin]

Years ago I was at HV test where they were building a special rig to test or change to oil for oil filled HV cables.

I recall them telling me the cables were installed in Bedfordview.

If it were these oil filled cables then splicing them could easily take days

Yes it would depend if they are... but the photo is not detailed enough so I am going on normal cables like the ones I have experience with

 

[Polymathic]

We had no power for 3 days because of cable theft, annoyingly open serve was trenching to lay fibre to a new cellphone tower and the cable thieves used it as an opportunity to don on green visibility vests and steel cables in broad daylight.

They relay the cables and by the time the Eskom technicians went to the substations to switch the power off the cables where dug up again. This happened at least twice.

To add insult to injury magically the reservoir didn't have a backup power when it did your years prior and we spent the 3 days without water or power. Some roads had no power for 5 days

 

[Not_original]

The cable can be terminated and jointed in even half that time.

True but procuring the cable and two joints from the vendor that has been waiting a year for his money from the last round of incompetence may take a while longer