Yesterday evening, a City of Tshwane system operator based at the Soshanguve Depot was hijacked and held hostage by unknown assailants. The alleged perpetrators drove around with him and tried to force him to energise areas in the northern parts of Soshanguve that were experiencing a power outage.
Fortunately, the operator managed to escape and the City is grateful for a life spared. The City strongly condemns this criminal behaviour in any part of the municipality and the perpetrators of this despicable behaviour should know the consequences of their actions – all teams operating from the Soshanguve Depot have been grounded to safeguard the plant, equipment and personnel.
This persisting phenomenon of harassment and robbery of officials while on duty has dire consequences because it hinders service delivery to residents. The City is banking on communities that are in need of services to protect electricians and/or artisans who are on call for infrastructure maintenance.
The City further appeals to members of the community to cease intimidating, assaulting and threatening its officials and/or damaging the City’s assets and infrastructure components. If some sections of the community continue with this thuggish behaviour, they will make it difficult for our officials to respond to service delivery interruptions.
Security personnel and the Tshwane Metro Police Department have been requested to patrol the Soshanguve Block KK and Soshanguve Block F Depot for any possible attacks.