A week since the attempted cable theft, of a 32 kVA underground cable, Rynfield, Northmead and surrounding areas are still without electricity.

The initial outage occurred at 01:22 on January 24, when the cable which, runs along Snake Road, between the Morehill and CBD substations was damaged.

Ward 27 Clr Lornette Joseph confirmed that supply to the Benoni CBD, Mackenzie Park, Rynsoord, New Modder, Western Extension, was restored at 16:30, yesterday (January 30), with the remaining areas intermittently switched on, as teams from the CoE energy department worked to balance the load to achieve a stable supply to all the affected areas.

“Upon restoration of power, Rynfield and Northmead experienced between four to five interruptions of power, before again being plunged into darkness at 20:30,” she said.

“It appears that yet another infrastructural malfunction at the feeder substation is at the root of the ongoing interruption of services, however I have had no further feedback from the teams.”

Outage timeline

January 27
Joint repairs on the line were completed with power to the CBD being restored by noon, followed by the other affected areas shortly before 17:00.

An unforeseen fault on the cable again plunged the city into darkness.

January 28
Investigations to locate the fault commenced, with excavations done to expose the cable, and reparation efforts made to restore services.

January 29
CoE spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini issued a statement attributing the outage on illegal mining activities between New Modder Road and Golden Drive.

“This area is frequently subjected to underground blasting, due to illegal mining,” he said.

“Blasting-induced ground vibrations subject cable joints to repeated mechanical stress, which accelerates degradation of stress-control components and insulation interfaces. Uncontrolled blasting significantly increases the risk of unplanned supply interruptions.”

January 30
Armed with a petition signed by more than 2000 Benoni residents, Joseph submitted an urgent motion to council, in terms of Rule 90 of the City of Ekurhuleni standing order by-law; to secure the electricity cable along Snake Road and other high risk illegal mining areas throughout the city.

Recommendations included:

• In accordance with industry-accepted norms, underground high-voltage cables must be installed at a depth of between 1.2m and 1.5m however in high-risk areas including blasting or mining zones, it is recommended that cables are installed at 1.8m to 2.5m.
• Further mechanical protection such as concrete encasement, duct banks or equivalent protective measures, should be undertaken.
• Until trenches are deepened and cables fully protected, the city must ensure that the EMPD and appointed security services patrol high-risk areas regularly, particularly during identified high-risk periods.

The motion was rejected and deemed not to be a matter of urgency.

No further updates regarding the restoration of power has been received.

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