Much of Pretoria East and Mamelodi are without power after seven pylons collapsed at the weekend with no time frame of when electricity would be restored — amid indications that metal theft and vandalism had caused the disaster.
The incident has led to the closure of the N4 freeway east between Solomon Mahlangu and Simon Vermooten on- and off-ramps.
The areas affected by power outages include Mamelodi, Waltloo, Silverton, Silver Lakes, Faerie Glen, Equestria, Mooikloof, Doornpoort, Waterval, Grootvlei East, Grootvlei West, Bultfontein, Rooiwal, Vastfontein extension, Lyttleton, Die Hoewes and a portion of Moreleta Park.
The collapse of power lines connecting Njala substation through to the Waltloo area has left businesses such as the Ford manufacturing plant, and those in the Silvertondale and Waltloo industrial areas without power.
Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink gave live Twitter video updates from the scene on
Monday.
He said he could not give a credible estimate of when repairs would be complete. He said at least three of the pylons had been damaged by vandalism and there had been attempts to steal metal from the pylons.
“There is strong evidence criminality has played a role here,” he said.
Metro police were on the scene to prevent further damage to the pylons.
The Ford Silverton factory, which employs 4,600 people, is without power, it confirmed, putting at risk the production of Ford Ranger vehicles for local and international sales. The factory can produce as much as 720 cars a day.
Investment
The incident will be a further blow to businesses in the area struggling with high levels of load-shedding and an example of how widespread infrastructure collapse and a lack of law and order are further tarnishing SA’s image as a friendly, safe investment destination.
SA holds its fifth investment conference on Thursday in a bid to attract R1.2-trillion over five years. On Friday, the UK’s Financial Times, an internationally esteemed publication, ran an article on how vandalism, theft of copper and illegal mining is leading to disaster in Johannesburg. Its subheading states: “Wealthy residents flee Johannesburg as it descends into
lawlessness and infrastructural collapse.”
Brink met with metro police, the city manager and other officials on the scene.
He said the repairs would be conducted in stages or milestones. The first stage is to be the reopening of the N4 road.
“Another important milestone is to lift these cables [and] put them onto structures. [We] are going to need the assistance of Eskom and that’s why the city manager is formally reaching out to Eskom. It is in the national interest that we fix this as soon as possible.”
A tweet from October showing a damaged pylon in Tshwane and warning of the imminent collapse was widely reshared on social media.
Brink said there was no indication that the damaged pylon in the photo was one of the collapsed pylons, but that it was critical that all high-voltage transmission lines in Tshwane were inspected for damage.
He said it was important that law enforcement locally and nationally try to prevent further criminality and damage.
In November, the government put a six-month ban on the export of scrap metal as vandalism had become widespread. It is not clear whether this has reduced metal and copper theft.
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