Cape Town spends R8m fixing cables thieves keep stealing in Lower Woodstock

Cape Town has spent about R8 million repairing electrical infrastructure damaged by repeated theft and vandalism in Lower Woodstock and around the Tide Street Substation, the City said in a statement posted on its official X account on Wednesday.

The figure excludes labour and other costs, so the full amount the metro has laid out is higher than the R8m it has put on the repairs themselves.

The City did not say in the post how many incidents the total covers, over what period the money was spent, or whether any arrests or prosecutions have followed the thefts and vandalism. It pointed readers to a longer statement for further detail.

The cost is borne by the metro and lands in the same budget that pays for maintenance and new connections across the city. Substation equipment is a frequent target for cable and metal theft, and repairs take time during which nearby households and businesses are without power.

Lower Woodstock residents and traders around the Tide Street Substation have had to absorb those interruptions while the City replaces what was taken or broken. The R8m is the City’s own accounting of what the damage has cost to put right, separate from the disruption of the outages themselves.