Power outages shut Pretoria magistrate’s court down

The Pretoria magistrate’s court shut down last Thursday and postponed cases due to power outages.

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development spokesperson Steve Mahlangu said the outages began on Thursday and the department was yet to determine the cause.

“The department can confirm that the court building is experiencing a power outage and as a result all matters/cases were postponed,” he said, adding the problem had been reported to  Department of Public Works (DPW) for its urgent attention.

“The justice department has not yet received a report and is following up with DPW and the Tshwane metro for the way forward as soon as possible.”

A metro spokesperson confirmed that though it was pursuing a strict Tshwane Ya Tima revenue collection campaign, it had not cut power supply to the court.

Pretoria (Tshwane Central) Magistrates Court in the dark! #VoetsekANC failing its duty to uphold justice & the people of SA pic.twitter.com/FzjlXtE41U

— Johan Bornman (@JohanBornman) June 24, 2022

@Thabisoo Mr T, now we are telling clients that courts are closed due to power cuts at Pretoria Magistrates court, kunzima kotane pic.twitter.com/CQysoieIlU

— Gumede Attorneys (@Qwabe12222340) June 23, 2022

No more masks. Back to normal. Arrived at the Pretoria Magistrates Court, only to find that the power is disconnected due to non-payment. They themselves #sabotage this country.

— Dominuslitus (@Dominus_Litus) June 23, 2022

Recently Eskom workers went on strike resulting in nationwide power outages.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said at some power stations the full complement of workers had not reported for duty.

“As a result, Stage 4 load-shedding will regretfully continue to be implemented at Monday 05:00 until Wednesday.”

Mantshantsha said the unprotected strike caused delays to maintenance work being carried on the Eskom network.

“As a result, unplanned generation losses have not been reduced as planned, which has compelled Eskom to continue taking precautionary measures to conserve generation capacity and safeguard plants from damage, Mantshantsha said.

He said there the load-shedding level could change at short notice depending on workforce availability and its impact on supply

“Currently approximately 4 000MW of generation capacity is at risk due to the illegal strike.”

He said it was therefore necessary to replenish emergency generation reserves to react to unforeseen circumstances.

“Adequate emergency reserves are crucial to assist with the generation deficit while dealing with generating units that may trip owing to unlawful action, and to compensate for the inability to return generating units timeously to service.

“Protracted strike actions may lead to further damage and prolonged delays to returning units to service, which would compound an already constrained power system.”

He said Eskom would closely monitor the system, adjust and communicate any changes as necessary.

“We appeal to all South Africans to help limit the impact of the shortages by continuing to reduce the usage of electricity and to switch off all nonessential items.”

Mantshantsha also reminded the public that load-shedding was implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid.

“We therefore urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly especially during these uncertain times on the power system.”

Eskom also appealed to its labour partners and striking employees to put the people of South Africa first.

ALSO READ: Ongoing illegal strike action causes stage 4 load-shedding until at least Wednesday

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