Cable thief suspect electrocuted in Randburg

An alleged cable thief died from electrocution on Monday evening at a City Power transformer substation in Randburg, in the north of Johannesburg.

“City Power technicians responded to an outage affecting residents of Bordeaux and the surrounding areas when they discovered the incident and the body of the deceased,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

He said the victim had broken into a transformer substation at the corner of Republic Road and Main Road and vandalised it in what appeared to be an attempt to steal copper cables.

Mangena said the team isolated the substation while waiting for authorities including police to clear the scene and remove the body.

“Several customers in Bordeaux and the surrounding areas were left without power for most of the evening as the police were busy on site.”

He said the power was restored six hours after police handed the scene back to them.

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