Tshwane’s business chamber has warned of economic devastation if the unexpected power outage caused by collapsing power lines at the weekend is prolonged.
Capital City Business Chamber executive director Chrys Haitas told Business Day on Tuesday: “It’s pretty rough, if you think about it, especially for manufacturing.” He said the wider electricity supply was not stable, “so that’s also an issue”.
Parts of Pretoria North were left in the dark on Sunday night after the collapse of power lines on the N4 highway. This left several areas and businesses without power, which is critical to most enterprises — especially small businesses that play a crucial part in the government’s job-creation efforts.
City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said vandalism of the pylons along the N4 east freeway between Solomon Mahlangu and Simon Vermooten roads was suspected. At least seven pylons were affected, and the power lines strewn across the road forced closure of the N4.
Haitas said: “It will not be devastating to businesses only but to the metro as well as the municipality will have to provide new infrastructure.”
She praised Tshwane executive mayor Cilliers Brink and city manager Johann Mettler for their handling of the crisis. “They have been very, very proactive with communication. They are keeping everyone informed, consistently.
“The executive mayor and the city manager are updating us all the time. They are very consistent with their communication, I must admit,” said Haitas.
Ford motor company, which saw its Silverton vehicle assembly plant in Pretoria East affected by the outage, said it was working with the City of Tshwane and Eskom to restore power.
“As a result of the incident, all three shifts at the Silverton plant are currently suspended resulting in a loss of approximately 720 Ranger units per day, as per the plant’s daily installed capacity,” the company’s Duduzile Nxele told Business Day.
Ford has about 5,500 employees, and roughly 60,000 jobs depend on its local supplier network, all of which are affected by this outage.
“As yet [we] do not have an indication of when power will be fully restored to our facilities,” said Nxele.
Meanwhile, Mettler wrote to Eskom on Tuesday asking the power utility to assist the municipality urgently with labour, materials and equipment. His appeal was a bid to fast-track the restoration of power to areas still affected by the huge outage.
“The city’s energy and electricity team worked with speed to complete the clearing of the freeway, which was reopened around 5pm yesterday [Monday].
“The team, with Eskom and service providers, will begin the geotechnical studies of testing the soil, digging and clearing the servitude. Eskom will assist in dismantling and removing the damaged pylons and power lines,” he said.
The design aspects are also being finalised before Eskom brings new pylons to the site. “Tshwane has also submitted the wayleave application to Sanral and Gautrain to enable the technicians to work on the N4 and Solomon Mahlangu Drive.”
While power to some areas was restored, large parts of Pretoria East were still without power. “The city is prioritising energising the Pumulani substation, which feeds Mamelodi and other areas that are still out. If needs be, we may be forced to implement rotational loading in the areas still outstanding,” said Bokaba.
The city advised that consumers in some areas that had their power restored may experience a trip. He said the city was also exploring back-feeding Silverton, Koedoespoort and Riviera all the way up to Waltloo.
“The estimated time for restoration is not available. The city will keep consumers updated and apologises for the inconvenience.”
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