Fifth Tshwane substation catches fire

The City of Tshwane is repairing the fifth substation that either burnt out, or caught fire this year.

Tshwane confirmed its technical teams were on site to disconnect the burnt-out mini substation at the Wapadrand substation after the power went out on Tuesday morning, leaving a large part of Pretoria East without power.

While the replacement of the mini substation was underway, the expected time of repair was not yet known.

5th substation in Tshwane burned this year

DA ward 85 councillor Jacqui Uys said some parts of her ward were still without power after two faults.

The city confirmed its team had to temporarily withdraw from a site yesterday, after one of its electricians was injured on duty while doing maintenance work in Equestria.

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Uys said the injured worker had been airlifted to Millpark Hospital, which was considered the best hospital for burn wounds.

“He is stable, but sedated.

“They have not been able to take him to the theatre to determine the stage of the burns,” she said. Now that the fault point has been identified, teams have started digging to expose the cable, Uys said.

Prolonged power interruption affecting parts of Pretoria CBD

“The next steps, once the cable is exposed, is that the testing team comes back to pinpoint where the fault is, the system operators spike the cable to ensure it is not live and teams can work on it, electricians fix the cable, the testing team ensures the fault is properly fixed and system operators switch the electricity back on,” she said.

The city apologised for the inconvenience of a prolonged power interruption affecting parts of the Pretoria CBD.

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The outage is due to flooding at the TPA switching station, located at the corner of Bosman and Pretorius Streets.

It affected key facilities, including the Pretoria Central Police Station, thee high court and the Ou Raadsaal building on Tuesday.

Waterkloof resident Angela Charalambous said they have been without power for more than three days after a cable was stolen twice this week.

No power for 3 days

“We had no power for three days due to cable theft.

“They replaced the cable and it was stolen again two days later.

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“Where these cables lie isn’t easily accessible. It runs past Unisa in the bush,” she said.

The community rallied to pay to put one camera in the area, but it isn’t enough, Charalambous said.

Service delivery

Ward 59 councillor Shaun Wilkinson said it wasn’t just about politics any more but about service delivery.

“This is about the lived reality of every resident – whether they live in a suburb, township, or informal settlement,” he said.