Seshego Hospital substation stripped for copper as patients face the dark
Police in Limpopo estimate R500 000 in damage after a substation feeding the hospital was broken into and its switch, cables and distribution board destroyed.
A substation that feeds Seshego Hospital was broken into and stripped, and Limpopo police are now hunting the people who did it.
The South African Police Service says the damage was reported on Sunday, 11 October 2026. A municipal electrician had been sent to the hospital at about 17:00 after a complaint about the power supply. When he reached the substation on Bookelo Street, he found the doors standing open.
Inside was a grey school bag. In it were a side cutter, a knife and 1.5 mm electrical wire.
A switch had been stripped and damaged. So had the high-voltage cables and the distribution board. Police put the value of the destroyed infrastructure at R500 000.
That is the bill attached to a building most residents never see, and the cost lands on a hospital that cannot run without it. A substation is what turns the grid into power at the ward, the theatre and the fridge that keeps medicine cold. When it is opened up and its switchgear removed, the failure is not abstract. It is a dark hospital.
No one has been arrested. Police say investigations are continuing to identify and apprehend those responsible.
The Provincial Commissioner of Police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Jan Scheepers, condemned the incident and said no one would be allowed to damage essential infrastructure, because that conduct puts the lives of the innocent public at risk.
“I have instructed the detectives to work around the clock to trace those responsible for this criminal conduct. I also wish to call upon anyone who might be having information about these suspects to contact the police immediately,” Scheepers said.
Police have asked anyone with information to contact the investigating officer, Captain Maokeng Mazwi, on 071 481 4285, or to report it to the nearest police station. Information can also be given anonymously through SAPS Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
The statement was issued by the office of the Provincial Commissioner in Limpopo, through Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, and is carried at https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=71805.
