News24 reports that a security officer who was contracted to Eskom was shot dead last week while patrolling in Soweto.  "An Eskom-contracted security officer sustained gunshot injuries on Thursday evening while on patrol along the Chris Hani Road in Soweto," the power utility indicated in a statement.  

The incident on Thursday came after two security officers, also contracted to Eskom, died after they were shot in Lenasia South on 10 November.  The preliminary findings indicated that the officers were ambushed from behind.  No one has yet been arrested for the crimes.  Eskom condemned the shootings, saying the security guards were part of its strategy to "combat the escalating theft of its network infrastructure", which has caused prolonged outages in Gauteng.  "The power utility is deeply concerned about the escalating acts of theft and vandalism of its network equipment and infrastructure which are aimed at derailing its efforts to provide electricity," the statement lamented.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nicole McCain at News24

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