Note to Editors: Attached please find a soundbite in English by Nico De Jager MPL here.
• Lombardy East, Rembrandt Park, River Park, Far East Bank, West Bank, parts of Alexandra and Tsutsumani have been without electricity for a week.
• Two transformers were damaged, and to date, electricity supply has still not been fully restored.
• Johannesburg’s electricity crisis is no longer a series of isolated outages.
The emergency isolation at the Alexandra Substation following theft and vandalism on 29 September, affecting Lombardy East, Rembrandt Park, River Park, Far East Bank, West Bank, parts of Alexandra and Tsutsumani, has left some residents without electricity. Two transformers were damaged, and to date, supply has still not been fully restored.
Johannesburg’s electricity crisis is no longer a series of isolated outages. The recent weeks have revealed an electricity network under significant strain. This is due to ageing infrastructure, inadequate maintenance, insufficient capital investment, and ongoing failures to secure critical infrastructure.
This is precisely why repeated warnings about the vulnerability and security of Johannesburg’s electricity infrastructure cannot be ignored until disaster strikes.
Residents elsewhere are experiencing the same instability. Communities supplied through the Gresswold network, including Houghton, Oaklands and surrounding suburbs, have also endured outages and unreliable supply.
The inner city provides an equally alarming warning. Parts of Johannesburg suffered lengthy outages during September following repeated fires at the Central Substation.
Following a prolonged outage, electricity was restored for barely a day before another fire plunged large parts of the Johannesburg CBD into darkness. City Power subsequently reported evidence of suspected cable theft and vandalism in the underground tunnels.
Vandalism and cable theft are serious crimes, and those responsible must face the full force of the law. But criminality cannot become a permanent excuse for a network that is inadequately protected and increasingly unable to withstand failures.
City Power itself has acknowledged that theft and vandalism place a substantial financial burden on the utility and divert resources away from maintenance and upgrades.
Johannesburg needs more than emergency repairs after infrastructure has already failed. It needs a properly funded programme of preventative maintenance, accelerated replacement of ageing infrastructure, adequate capital investment and effective security at substations and other critical electricity installations.
Every prolonged outage cost resident’s money. Food spoils, businesses lose income, and some are forced to close their doors, leading to more job losses; security systems fail, and households must spend more to keep the lights on.
Johannesburg cannot continue stumbling from one electricity emergency to the next.
The deterioration of the electricity network stems from problems that have been allowed to accumulate for years. The City of Johannesburg needs an administration that can restore financial discipline, safeguard its assets, and systematically invest in the infrastructure essential for residents and businesses.
Johannesburg residents deserve an electricity network that works, not another explanation for why it has failed. The DA has an Infrastructure Master Plan to curb vandalism and theft of electricity cables in the province.