City of Tshwane Mayor, Solly Msimanga says a high mast lighting ring that led to the death of 5 children in Soshanguve was tampered with.
The group of children between the ages of 6 to 12 were playing outside on Saturday afternoon when the lamp post hit them.
Msimanga has expressed his deep sadness over the incident and has has raised his concerns on the continuing vandalism and theft of infrastructure in the City.
He is expected to visit the families of the victims on Monday morning.
We found out later on that the cables that were holding the ring had actually been tampered with and given up, that is how they ended up falling on these innocent souls.
— Solly Msimanga, Tshwane Mayor
He says cable theft in the area is getting out of hand.
These people pull down these street lights, taking the bulbs and cables inside. There seems to bee a growing phenomenon in when these lights will resurface because then you find them in taverns or car washes that operate at night.
— Solly Msimanga, Tshwane Mayor
This is not an isolated incident, in Itereleng for instance there was an illegal connections that led to cables going to the informal settlement and that exploded with a minister next to it.
— Solly Msimanga, Tshwane Mayor
Police have launched an investigation.
Click on the link below to listen to the full audio....