Tshwane Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya, and MMC for Utilities Services Frans Boshielo recently paid visits to the Blesbok and Riamar Park substations to monitor the progress of new equipment installations.

The site visits took place on February 9 and came after the metro unveiled its strategy to combat the electricity crisis it finds itself in.

At Riamar Park, Moya said the substation’s refurbishments will be completed by March, meaning less prolonged power cuts for the Bronkhorstspruit community.

“We had to make sure that there is a targeted intervention not only on the primary substations but also on the secondary substations. We see the progress here, and it’s encouraging that the project is quite advanced, and our contractor is promising that by the end of March, they will be finished,” said Moya.

The mayor said this meant that consumers would experience fewer interruptions and outages.

She assured that they were also prepared for winter, “which is always one of the difficult seasons for us”.

“To the residents of Riamar Park, we’re asking for your involvement. Please help us protect this asset, it will be sad if we’ve done all this work only for thieves to take advantage. So we want to hold hands with the community to ensure that the work done will yield results for them,” Moya said.

The recent electricity outages prompted the metro’s approach include operating under increasing structural strain due to ageing infrastructure and historic underinvestment in maintenance and renewal.

Boshielo said the work being done gives him hope that the communities for each substation will benefit.

“This work forms part of our broader plan to stabilise electricity supply across the city. The progress made is impressive. Once completed, this project will greatly assist in improving and stabilising the power supply for the residents of Ward 102 in Region 7,” Boshielo said.

During the oversight visit to Blesbok substation, Boshielo said: “I am pleased to note that there is steady progress, and the project is on track.”

The underlying vulnerabilities of the power network were compounded by prolonged periods of severe weather during December, followed by a sharp escalation in criminal damage and vandalism affecting electricity infrastructure.

Together, these factors interacted to produce outages that were more frequent and more severe.

The work at the Riamarpark 11kV Substation in Bronkhorstspruit included replacing equipment, reconfiguring the transformer load, and repairing vandalised equipment.

The Blesbok Substation in Queenswood, Pretoria Central, has been the subject of numerous grievances for its unreliability, and the mayor says that more intensive refurbishments are needed.

“Residents in this area have for years suffered from an unstable electricity supply. We understood that the patchwork of resolving the electricity network at the substation wasn’t enough.

“As part of our 2025/26 financial investment, we are upgrading Blesbok. We are currently installing new equipment and cables in addition to a system reconfiguration,” Moya said.

Ward 84 Councillor Anru Meyer expressed his gratitude to the mayor and MMC Boshielo.

“Progress is being made at the Blesbok Substation regarding refurbishment. They have installed the T4s; the next step will be to connect the T4s, which will mean a switch over of power.

“The city and the contractor will be getting together in due course to determine the time and date that the switchover will occur.

“After that, the contractor will be able to continue work inside the substation, make sure that the building is sound, there are no leaks, replace the panels, introduce protection units and introduce backups and so forth,” Meyer said.

Meyer said during his engagements with the mayor, he was assured that a plan is being formalised to address the security concerns.

“There’s no point in all these refurbishments being done only for the substation to be vandalised again,” he said.

“The city is working on a plan to secure these facilities that goes beyond placing a warm body at the station. As we have seen in the past, this is not very successful; there has to be a better use of technology, and we will hold the city to account in that regard.”

Meyer said they have requested increased police visibility as well as the CPFs and private security companies. “Just to give more eyes, especially in the Blesbok area, to make sure the substation is protected, especially after the work is completed,” Meyer added.

Watch here:

Riama Park Substation oversight visit this today by Executive Mayor and myself . The Executive Mayor urged residents to help protect City infrastructure. @CityTshwane @kholofeloMorodi @nasiphim pic.twitter.com/DdcyNw11ec

— MMC Frans Boshielo (@MMCBoshielo) February 9, 2026

Also read: Menlo Park garden refuse site reopens after abrupt closure

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok or WhatsApp Channel