Cuanza sul: After replacing the power transmission towers of the Northern System that were knocked down on Tuesday in Cuanza Sul, electricity has been restored to Benguela and Cuanza Sul provinces. Five high-voltage towers were vandalized by unknown individuals, causing them to fall and leaving much of Cuanza Sul and Benguela in darkness for over twenty-four hours. Thousands of families and services were affected, especially the supply of drinking water.

According to Angola Press News Agency, the Luhongo Water Treatment Plant (WTP), located in Catumbela, supplies water to the coastal municipalities of Lobito, Catumbela, Benguela, and Navegantes. However, the WTP depends on electricity to operate. Meanwhile, fuel pumps in Lobito, Catumbela, and Benguela were crowded with people filling twenty-liter plastic recipients with gasoline for their generators, many of which had not been used in a long time.

In response to the incident, Benguela province governor Manuel Nunes Jºnior described the criminals' behavior as quite serious. He was speaking to the press during the visit of the Minister of Energy and Water, Joao Baptista Borges, to the Luhongo Water Treatment Plant. "These citizens do not understand the efforts that the state is making to improve people's living conditions. It is undignified behavior that deserves condemnation from all of us and a strong punishment to set an example for those who engage in such actions," he said.

Jºnior recalled that these are public goods that exist to guarantee the well-being of communities. He said the perpetrators should be strongly condemned to deter others from engaging in these practices.