ActionSA today condemns the Rustenburg Local Municipality (RLM) for its catastrophic failure to protect critical electrical infrastructure, as relentless vandalism and theft of mini-substation components plunge the city into darkness and economic chaos.
This collapse in security comes despite the RLM’s decision to expand a security contract—a move that has delivered zero measurable improvement and represents a gross misuse of public funds.
The Crisis: Escalating Theft and a Failed Contract
The theft of vital components, including yellow pins from municipal mini-substations, is occurring unabated, causing prolonged and widespread power outages that compromise public safety and cripple local businesses. What is particularly alarming is that this surge in crime persists after the municipality expanded the current security tender by fifteen percent of its original value. This ill-advised adjustment has been a spectacular failure. It has exposed the municipality and its residents to further financial loss with no demonstrable return on investment.
The people of Rustenburg are paying a security tax that is not securing anything. Ratepayers cannot continue to shoulder the burden of escalating costs while our city’s infrastructure collapses under the weight of poor planning, weak oversight, and ineffective contract management.
The expanded tender has not delivered value for money or the protection that was promised. The continued vandalism of electrical infrastructure is not merely a technical issue, it is a direct assault on the dignity, safety, and economic wellbeing of every resident.
ActionSA Demands Immediate and Decisive Action
ActionSA demands immediate accountability from the Rustenburg Local Municipality and insists on the following three urgent steps:
- Immediate Accountability and Contract Termination: Municipal leadership must explain the failure of the expanded fifteen-percent tender to deliver results. If the contractor has failed to perform under the adjusted terms, the contract must be terminated immediately to stop the financial bleeding,
- Forensic Investigation into Misuse of Public Funds: We call for a forensic investigation into the procurement and management of the expanded contract. This probe must determine whether due diligence was exercised and whether public funds were misused or mismanaged in the awarding and expansion of this failing tender,
- Urgent, Results-Driven Security Intervention: The RLM must deploy effective, transparent, and results-driven security measures to immediately secure electrical infrastructure. These measures must be visible, measurable, and put the protection of residents’ interests first.
Unless decisive action is taken, the municipality risks further eroding public trust, deepening the service delivery crisis, and collapsing local businesses. ActionSA will not stand by as a lack of political will allows criminality to hold our city hostage.
RLM Leadership Fails to Secure Rustenburg Grid as Expanded Security Contract Yields Zero Results
ActionSA today condemns the Rustenburg Local Municipality (RLM) for its catastrophic failure to protect critical electrical infrastructure, as relentless vandalism and theft of mini-substation components plunge the city into darkness and economic chaos.
This collapse in security comes despite the RLM’s decision to expand a security contract—a move that has delivered zero measurable improvement and represents a gross misuse of public funds.
The Crisis: Escalating Theft and a Failed Contract
The theft of vital components, including yellow pins from municipal mini-substations, is occurring unabated, causing prolonged and widespread power outages that compromise public safety and cripple local businesses. What is particularly alarming is that this surge in crime persists after the municipality expanded the current security tender by fifteen percent of its original value. This ill-advised adjustment has been a spectacular failure. It has exposed the municipality and its residents to further financial loss with no demonstrable return on investment.
The people of Rustenburg are paying a security tax that is not securing anything. Ratepayers cannot continue to shoulder the burden of escalating costs while our city’s infrastructure collapses under the weight of poor planning, weak oversight, and ineffective contract management.
The expanded tender has not delivered value for money or the protection that was promised. The continued vandalism of electrical infrastructure is not merely a technical issue, it is a direct assault on the dignity, safety, and economic wellbeing of every resident.
ActionSA Demands Immediate and Decisive Action
ActionSA demands immediate accountability from the Rustenburg Local Municipality and insists on the following three urgent steps:
Unless decisive action is taken, the municipality risks further eroding public trust, deepening the service delivery crisis, and collapsing local businesses. ActionSA will not stand by as a lack of political will allows criminality to hold our city hostage.