Cable theft at the Raslouw substation is the reason given for the power outage that saw large parts of Centurion go dark yesterday.
Utility services MMC Abel Tau said the metro was aware of the problem and teams had been sent to fix it after a 132kV cable was stolen. Power was restored at around 19:00 and went off again this morning at around 03:00.
“We currently do not have a restoration time but teams are on site.
“We might have capacity issues here and there so I am also bringing in teams from outside the region. We are committed to fixing the problem as soon as possible.”
Tau said there was a security issue as most City infrastructure was “under siege”
He said cable thieves strike during load shedding hours and the city needed a strategy around the issue of cable theft.
He said there was blatant sabotage and not only substations are targeted. Waste water treatment works are also under threat.
ALSO READ: ‘Relief’ as Eskom implements only stage 2 load shedding
Following a sporadic increase in cable theft, a tender for technological protection of critical infrastructure was finalised late last year.
Tau said the mayco, which sat this past Wednesday, had discussed the matter and it was in the pipeline and needed to be approved by council.
“It is something we need to implement as a matter of urgency, our infrastructure is under siege and I think we must fight.
“It’s shocking what is going on, it is blatant sabotage, we suspect there are people tampering with systems.
“But we cannot point fingers, at this stage we need to do what we need to do to secure infrastructure and talk to the people on the ground to assist us, that’s all we can do.”
Meanwhile, power utility Eskom has implemented stage two load-shedding from 09:00 until 23:00 due to a shortage of capacity.
ALSO READ: Check your security system before the lights go out, Pta residents warned
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083-625-4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
