A ward councillor in Macassar, outside Cape Town, Peter Helfrich, says prolonged power outages in the area have resulted in a dramatic increase in crime.
Helfrich says there have been four bodies discovered in the space of a week.
He says in the latest incident, the body of a man was found on Macassar Road. Two other bodies have been found on the same road, and the body of an unknown woman was found washed up at Macassar Beach.
Police are investigating.
Helfrich says over the past year, electricity has not been immediately restored after load shedding, leaving the community in darkness.
“It seems that these bodies recently discovered in our ward, were all dumped during these prolonged power outages. I understand that everyone in our country is experiencing load shedding at the moment and they are suffering like us.”
“But in our ward, on top of load shedding, we have been experiencing prolonged power outages after load shedding for the last 12 months. That means, every time when we have load shedding and the power is supposed to be restored, it isn’t,” adds Helfrich.
