A number of Telkom facilities around the country have once again been targeted in a series of acts of sabotage.
Facilities in Midrand, Pretoria West, Silverton, Durban, Pinetown, Pietermaritzburg, Makhado and Messina were sabotaged.
“This is not vandalism, the criminals who damaged our property knew what they were doing. Cables have been cut to cause maximum damage. Entire street distribution cabinets, which are located in neighbourhoods to serve multiple streets at a time, have been ripped apart and in a few instances yesterday, set on fire,” says Jacqui O’Sullivan, Telkom group executive for communication.
At some sites, specialist equipment was required to access the fibre cables and the criminals were clearly using equipment that is not commonly available.
“The SAPS, with support from additional investigators and Telkom’s own forensics team, are currently pursuing a number of good leads to identify these saboteurs,” O’Sullivan says.
Telkom’s group CEO, Sipho Maseko, yesterday announced a R500 000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the saboteurs. This reward is available to any person either within Telkom, or a member of the public with pertinent information. Telkom has asked that any person with information related to these crimes please contact the Telkom crime reporting line on 0800 124 000.
“We apologise to our customers who have been inconvenienced by this senseless sabotage. We are working to repair the damage as quickly as possible,” O’Sullivan says.
