The Africa Enterprise Telkom Cable

Goes Underground

Number of images: 5
Created on: Mon Oct 20 16:14:49 SAST 2014

After cable thiefs had stolen sections of the overhead Telkom cable that ran to Africa Enterprise (AE) along Nonsuch Road a second time, a trench was dug, ducting was installed, and a new cable was run through the ducting. It is still there. These photographs show sections of the trench and also reflect the considerable effort that had to be invested in order to dig some sections of the trench.

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Losing sections of the overhead cable twice has ultimately resulted in what was left being effectively abandoned. The temporary cables that were strung after the second theft are also still there. So are most of the poles and various bits of infrastructure required to support suchg a cable.

The mind boggles at the cost and the value of what has since simply been abandoned. To that must be addded the cost of having the trench dug, the ducting laid and a third cable installed. This is of course nbot an isolated scenario. It must have been replayed in various forms all over the country.

In fact one does not have to wander to far to find a second scenarion. Sections of the Telkom cable that runs up Town Bush Road beyond the Nonsuch Road intersection has also been stolen twice. From what I can gather, it has been replaced each time, probably because it runs to the site of an essential service, namely the D V Harris Water Works at the top of Town Bush Road.

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