The Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele said the municipality would continue to disconnect residents who connect electricity illegally.
Gungubele went to address residents of Winnie Mandela Settlement in Tembisa yesterday, after they had set alight a clinic, council building, a library and several council owned vehicles.
The residents burnt council property in retaliation that municipal police had disconnected their illegal electricity connections.
Mayoral spokesman Zweli Dlamini said “a fuming Gungubele made it clear that the council will pull all stops to ensure that those behind these senseless acts of hooliganism are put behind bars.”
Dlamini said the municipality loses in the region of R200 million on illegal connections a year.
“The theft of electricity does not only set us back financially, it also interferes with our programme of broadening services to other areas while at the same time putting the lives of innocent people, who may be exposed to the dangerously exposed wires, in danger.”
“It is quite sad when you see these incidents. How do you set a clinic on fire when you and your family are dependent on it for survival? This just does not make sense.”
“The thugs also made off with council equipment including computers from the care centre,” said Gungubele.
Meanwhile, Gungubele also visited families of eight people who were gunned down by unknown gunmen mafia style at a spaza shop in the area on Saturday evening.
He instructed officials to ascertain the needs of the deceased’s families as they prepare to bury their loved ones.
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