Lack of resources or vandalism? Parts of Tshwane have gone 6 days and counting without power

Thousands of residents in the City of Tshwane have had a dark festive season after two substations blew up and were engulfed in flames.

Widespread power outage in Tshwane

On Saturday, the DA’s Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink said it was day number six of a widespread power outage in the capital. The areas affected include Sunnyside, Queenswood, Brooklyn, Collyn, Wonderboom South, Arcadia, Menlopark, Mayville, Waverley, Groenkloof, Rietfontein, Gezina and Sunset View.

“The cause was due to a major hailstorm last Sunday; however, the weather event was not unusual, and not the biggest or one of the biggest storms the city has seen,” he said.

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Lack of resources or vandalism?

Brink said the reason for the power outage is that Tshwane’s infrastructure is fragile and there aren’t enough electricity teams or resources.

“What was unusual was a lack of a crisis management response. This is a crisis. There are businesses, households and elderly folks without power,” he added.

“This is the result of basic service budget cuts, to spend money on water tankers and other ANC business interests.”

City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo confirmed the fire at the Koedoespoort Substation building. He also blamed vandalism.

“The city’s Energy and Electricity Business Unit teams responded immediately, with the Emergency Services Department also dispatched to the scene and currently on site. Fire and emergency personnel are actively managing the incident, securing the area and supporting technical teams to ensure the situation is stabilised safely,” he said.

Mashigo said as part of precautionary safety measures, technicians have isolated the Rooiwal 132kV Line, which has resulted in electricity supply interruptions affecting the Pumulani, Waltloo and Koedoespoort Substations and the areas they supply.

He added that the technical teams were also isolating Line 2, with the intention of safely switching off the substation in full to allow emergency operations and technical assessments to proceed without risk.

“The full extent of the damage remains unknown at this stage, and an estimated time of restoration is not yet available,” he added.

Restoration to take several days

Mashigo said the scale of damage caused by the act of vandalism means that full restoration will take several days to complete because the work involves the rebuilding of critical infrastructure and must be carried out in a controlled and safe manner.

“The city strongly condemns these acts of infrastructure vandalism and cable theft, which not only disrupt essential services but also place lives at risk and severely impact residents and businesses – particularly during the festive period when demand for electricity is high,” he said.

Mashigo said the city has also made progress on the ongoing restoration work at the 132/11kV Olievenhoutbosch Substation following a fire in the early hours of Wednesday that was caused by the tampering of a live feeder cable, which resulted in extensive damage to equipment and led to widespread electricity supply interruptions.

The areas affected included Zwartkop, Highveld, Eco Park, Kosmosdal, Blue Valley, Louwlardia, Rua Vista, Thatchfield and various extensions in Olievenhoutbosch.

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DA Tshwane Spokesperson for Utilities Themba Fosi said the city’s substations are burning while the ANC/ActionSA coalition government is not prioritising electricity infrastructure.

Fosi said the current state of Tshwane’s electrical grid has reached a breaking point, with a dangerous combination of ageing infrastructure, inadequate safety measures and criminal activity.

“In recent months, we have seen an alarming surge in substation fires across the metro. These are not merely technical glitches; they are catastrophic failures that result in prolonged blackouts, damaging local businesses and compromising the safety of residential neighbourhoods.

“Each fire further weakens an already strained electricity grid, leading to a domino effect of infrastructure instability. Investigations into these incidents have, over time, revealed a systemic failure in preventative maintenance.

“Many of our substations lack modern fire suppression systems, functional smoke detection or even basic physical firebreaks. Without these essential protections, a small electrical fault, which should be contained, rapidly escalates into a total infrastructure loss,” he said.