Cable Thief Badly Burnt While Attempting to Steal Live Cabling, SA Says, “We Don’t Feel Pain for Thieves”

• A suspected cable thief bit off more than he could chew when he attempted to steal a live power cable
• The man sustained burns to his upper body, including his face, before angry community members attempted to beat him
• The suspect was rescued by police members who arrested him, leaving many social media users fuming

JOHANNESBURG - A suspected cable thief was arrested after allegedly attempting to steal live cabling on Monday, 13 March.

The incident took place while City Power members were repairing a cable fault near the Alexandra substation. The area is considered a hotspot for cable theft and vandalism.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the suspected thief tried to cut and steal copper while being unaware of the live cables. The cable blew up and the suspect was burnt on his upper body, including his face, according to SowetanLIVE.

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Angry community members were ready to attack the man for the attempted theft when police were called to the scene. Mangena said cable theft is one of the reasons why the Jukskei River community had a power outage for almost a week.

The man was charged with tampering with and the attempted theft of infrastructure. There were over 25 incidents of cable theft and vandalism recorded over the weekend in the inner city, EWN reported.

Mzansi disturbed by attempted copper theft

Marcel Adriaan said:

“We never experienced this in South Africa previously but ever since all these funny drugs have come into our country and now this is happening.”

Bathandwa Khalipa posted:

“Can we please have the guy who called the cops, we wanna ask him something?”

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David Judah Rasimpi wrote:

“We don't feel pain for thieves, seriously.”

Matlou Michael commented:

“The police messed up.”

Thando Thembani Mogale added:

“I hope the cable is doing okay.”

Viral video of alleged cable thief stuck in ceiling at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital has Mzansi fed up

Briefly News also reported that an alleged cable thief's attempt to steal copper cables from the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in the Eastern Cape has ended in embarrassment.

The would-be criminal got stuck in the hospital's ceiling and the facility's staff caught the entire ordeal on camera.

The video was posted on Twitter by @RONALDMASINDA and shows several hospital workers trying to get the man out of the damaged ceiling.

Source: Briefly News