Cable theft leaves one dead in Roodepoort

One person was electrocuted at a Roodepoort sub-station on Monday, causing a fire which left the area without electricity after an incident of cable theft. Johannesburg city power said. 17 September 2012 | Sapa Spokesman Sol Masolo said the body of a person who had been electrocuted was found in the Roodepoort sub-station. The electrocution was the cause of a fire in the substation, which left Roodepoort and the surrounding area without electricity. While it was not yet known why the person was there, the sub-station had also been hit by cable theft, Masolo said. The Roodepoort theft was one of two robberies. There was another instance of cable theft in Roodetown. Masolo could not say when power would be restored to Roodepoort. The fire at the sub-station also knocked out robots, resulting in traffic jams, the Johannesburg metro police said. Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said power to the robots was expected to be out for the rest of the day. Minnaar said morning traffic was "very, very heavy" as a result of the power outage. Metro police officials had been deployed to direct traffic at the main intersections in Roodepoort. THE CITIZEN - Comments by Sonny - A sentence better than the electric chair. This incident disrupted all the traffic between Roodepoort and Johannesburg this morning. It effected all private homes, stores and businesses on the Western side of Johannesburg. Why should we tolerate dysfunctional service delivery, corruption & crime?