Electrical repair teams are hopeful that the areas surrounding Salt Rock and Shaka’s Head will have their power restored this evening.

The replacement of a blown cable along the R102 near Imbonini Park is currently underway and the work is estimated to be complete by around midnight.

Once testing is complete, it is understood the cable will allow for supply to the Imbonini and Shaka’s Rock substations.

The substations supply Salt Rock, Shaka’s Head, Umhlali, Compensation, Imbonini Business Park and parts of Ballito, all of which have been without power since a major transformer fault on Monday afternoon.

The same fault knocked out the Shakaskraal and Sheffield substations, but they have since had their power restored.

For the worst-affected areas however, 5.40pm this afternoon will represent three full days of blackouts.

It has compounded frustrations for residents on KwaDukuza Municipality’s southern grid (Zimbali to Sheffield and Shakaskraal), who have experienced a combined 34 days with outages since December 1.

Tensions boiled over in Shaka’s Head on Tuesday night, where protesting residents closed the N2 and Chaka’s Rock bridge for a few hours.

* Note: This story has been updated to reflect the updated timeline for repairs. The story originally read 7pm and has been changed to midnight, in line with information provided by the municipality.

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