A formal update regarding the prolonged electricity interruption affecting the Secunda CBD and immediate surroundings has been provided by the office of the Municipal Manager of the Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM).

In a press release sent by GMM’s spokesperson, Donald Green, the following was stated:

We wish to inform residents, and all relevant stakeholders regarding the ongoing electricity outage caused by damage of the 11 kV (240 square mm, 3 core Coper Cables) lines, which has left the communities and stakeholders around Secunda without power for an extended period of time.

As Govan Mbeki Municipality, we have experienced cable fault which has occurred around midnight between January 20 and 21, of a cable from Secunda (Near Albany) substation to the local ring-substation number 1B (RS 1B).

This cable further supplies electricity to RS 1, RS 9 and RS 10, which are currently without electricity.

There was an alternative supply of electricity cable from the same main substation (Secunda main substation) that supplies the same ring substations through RS 10.

This cable moves from RS 10 to RS 9, then to RS1 to further supply RS 1B. Upon the failure of the first cable, the second cable, which was a backup, was then resuscitated on January 20 to restore power to all.

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This was achieved around 21:00 on the January 21. The power through backup did not last long, as within two hours after restoration, the power tripped whereby our technical team identified the fault to exist between RS 10 and RS 9.

“We suspect that the fault occurred due to theft or attempted theft, just as we suspect it is similar to the main supply cable between Secunda substation and RS 1B,” said Green.

Three different service providers came to assist in locating the faults using their machines without success for the past two days on those two separate cables. The affected areas that are supplied by RS 1B, RS 1, RS 2 and RS 9 are currently without electricity.

The areas are mainly Secunda CBD and immediate surroundings. That is from Total garage near OK along Helen Joseph Street on the east to Sunset Park on the west of Secunda, which includes the car dealers towards Graceland Hotel, Casino and Country Club.

This outage has severely disrupted daily life, affecting households, car dealers, municipal buildings within CBD, businesses around, shops and restaurants.

Consumers that are already vulnerable are once again asked to endure prolonged hardship due to cable infrastructure failures beyond municipal control.

The GMM municipal technical team has indicated that repairs may take up to several hours, citing fault finding and cable joint and/or replacement. Materials are readily available to repair once faults are located.

“As a municipality, we are deeply concerned and have made it clear that this matter requires urgent intervention and decisive action,” said Green.

GMM technical teams, working together with multiple service providers, including SASOL, are on the ground to ensure that the power is restored within a short space of time.

“Let me state unequivocally that as municipality we are taking our communities/consumers very serious, and for that reason, as the Executive we will continue to give our technical team a good support to fast track the power restoration to everyone affected,” said Green.

“Residents are urged, in the meantime, to make alternative arrangements while we continue to fight for a swift resolution and we further urge everyone who is affected to treat all electrical appliances which are connected to the main with serious caution.

“We sincerely apologise to all affected residents for the inconvenience and distress caused. We thank you for your patience, resilience, and unity during this difficult time,” concluded Green.