Day: July 17, 2023

The Durban Metro Police have intensified their crime prevention clean-up campaign in a quest to get rid of drug dens and reduce crime in the city.

According to eThekwini Municipality the campaign, launched by Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda in January, has seen a decline in drug dens and the illegal occupation of railway lines by drug addicts.

Project leader, Superintendent Anand Maharaj, said the campaign has rejuvenated their efforts, and resulted in a highly successful multi-stakeholder initiative.

Maharaj said the programme initially started 10 years ago with a handful of stakeholders, however, as time progressed the campaign gradually lost momentum.

“With the alarming spike in criminal activities, Mayor Kaunda called on the Metro Police to leave no stone unturned to ensure we reduce crime [and] that was the nudge we needed to restart the initiative,” Maharaj said.

Metro Police Spokesperson, Colonel Boysie Zungu, commended Maharaj and his team for their work to combat crime in the city centre, noting their efforts to bring criminals to book and to ensure the wellbeing of residents.

“Superintendent Anand’s team has reported a decline in the illegal occupation of railway lines by drug users. From about 1 000 occupants there are only about 150 now. This added pressure has started to have an impact as the illegal occupants were suspected to play a major role in crime,” Zungu said.

Zungu also commended the stakeholders, including the South African Police Services, Urban Improvement Precinct, Safer Cities, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and iTrump, for their role in the clean-up campaign.

Meanwhile, Mayor Kaunda said another new business has opened its doors, adding to the growing luxury restaurant and entertainment scene in the city.

Kaunda was speaking at the official opening of the Signature Restaurant at Oceans Mall in uMhlanga on Friday.

Kaunda said the opening of Signature Restaurant, which is founded by Desmond Mabuza, shows the confidence that investors continue to have on the city.

“We wish to congratulate the Mabuza family for this wonderful achievement of bringing a 5-star restaurant to our city. Durban is the only place to have a Signature Restaurant outside of Morningside in Sandton. We have no doubt that this restaurant will enrich our culinary experience and enhance the tourism experience,” Kaunda said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

More than 2 000 cases and arrests have been made in cases linked to criminality at Eskom.

This was announced by Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, during a media briefing on Monday.

“Over the period from April 2022 to date, there are 2 147 Eskom cases that have been reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and about 1 586 of these are under investigation. Since that period…126 arrests have been made.

“In addition to the technical solutions that we are seeking to resolve the issues at Eskom, we are also focused on addressing some of the underlying problems which have been issues of fraud, corruption and security,” he said.

Ramokgopa explained that law enforcement is hard at work, not only patrolling Eskom power stations but also investigating criminal activity linked to the power utility.

“A unit is located and embedded at Eskom and they also get to interact with various police stations that are attached to the various power stations.

“They do make regular visits not just to power stations but also to coal yards because they are trying to understand the anatomy of these criminal activities. They also go to second hand dealers just to ensure that people can account for their activities,” he said.

The Minister further stated that thousands of scrap yard dealers – where stolen Eskom copper cables can be sold – have been visited in thr crackdown on copper cable theft.

“They have visited about 15 043 scrap metal dealers. They have done compliance inspections so that we are able to undermine and cut the arteries of these syndicates and allow Eskom to do its work going forward,” he said.

The Minister emphasised that the work done by law enforcement, coupled with the recovery of some R93 million for Eskom coffers, carries a tangible impact not only for the power utility, but also citizens.

“We have tried to provide a physical value of what has been recovered but there’s a greater value that, from a security point of view, is intangible but from a technical point of view, is tangible.

“If we could be able to illustrate that some of the megawatts recovered are as a result of the work of our colleagues in the intelligence and security agency, the megawatts would far exceed the R93 million.

“Those would be the additional megawatts that are made available to the South African economy,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has apologised to the nation for Stage 6 load shedding that was implemented on Thursday.

The Minister was speaking during a media briefing on Monday.

Eskom implemented Stage 6 load shedding last week following breakdowns and delays in returning to service of generating units.

“I want to express our sincere and profuse apology for having taken you through a very difficult stage of intensive load shedding.

“Firstly, load shedding is unacceptable. The second part is that going to higher stages of load shedding, especially Stage 6, should not become the norm. If anything, that should constitute an extraordinary occurrence. The intensity of load shedding that goes beyond Stage 4 is something that should be unacceptable and it’s something that, to the degree that we can… we will do everything to avoid,” he said.

On the upside, the Minister said at least two units are already expected back online, which will add some 1 305MW onto the grid. Furthermore, later this week, at least 12 generating units are also expected back to boost the grid by some 5 438MW.

Ramokgopa said the implementation of Stage 6 – following at least three weeks of sustained improved performance by Eskom power stations – is a manifestation of earlier warnings that the power grid remains under severe pressure.

“[This is] a reconfirmation of the fact that the grid remains vulnerable and susceptible to plummeting of availability of megawatts… although we have seen a significant amount of reprieve over the 21 days.

“What we have always known was that we should be able to get to a stage where we are able to build resilience, reliability of these units and also create an additional buffer so that as when these units fail… there’s sufficient reserve margin that will allow us an opportunity not to engage in any stage of load shedding and/or any intensification of load shedding,” he said.

Ramokgopa explained that Eskom’s power stations are particularly vulnerable to boiler tube leaks, which cause unplanned outages for generation units.

“That’s the persistent failure that we are experiencing across all the power stations. It’s an area of technical shortfall that requires all of our attention. It has to do sometimes with the quality of coal.

“In our conversation with Eskom’s technical team, we said that we must just focus on this and in my other conversations with leading universities in the country… we tried to see if we can get people who studied this so that we are able to help the situation.

“This is our albatross and the majority of boiler tube leaks and the majority of the units that had failed and gone out are as a result of boiler tube leaks,” Ramokgopa said.

The Minister reiterated government’s commitment and plan to deal decisively with load shedding.

“Our task is twofold. The first is that in the shortest possible space of time, end load shedding and then make it possible to create additional capacity and a buffer so that as we enter the next winter season, we’ve got sufficient generating capacity to be able to meet those winter conditions.

“In the long run, for us to be able to build resilience and energy sovereignty for the country, we need to create additional generating capacity that will support the projected growth in the country,” Ramokgopa said.

Source: South African Government News Agency