Residents from Hamberg, Georginia, Cresswell Park and Florida Lake gathered on Sunday morning, May 10, to protest a widespread electricity outage that has persisted since Wednesday evening.

The angry group blocked Albertina Sisulu Road in both directions near Laerskool Die Ruiter, using rocks, tyres and tree branches to bring traffic to a standstill.

One resident told the Roodepoort Record that City Power had provided multiple explanations for the outage, one of several reported across the area during what has been the coldest weekend of the year so far.

Also read: City Power still battling to restore electricity in Florida

“We were initially told there was a cable fault,” said the resident.

“Days passed and nothing was done to fix it.
“When technicians eventually came out, they confirmed there was a cable fault.
“This was fixed, but the electricity remained off. We were then told they were trying to locate another fault.

“By Saturday evening, when they still could not find the fault, they tried an alternative connection. We had electricity for a while, but then the system overloaded and tripped.”

According to Ward 70 councillor Caleb Finn, it was discovered on Sunday morning that a mini-substation in the area had been vandalised overnight.

“City Power did send out a contractor, but the contractor refused to go on site while residents were protesting.

“A call was put out to the community appealing for calm, resulting in protestors dispersing and the power being reinstated this afternoon.”

Meanwhile, in Florida North, where residents protested on Saturday, electricity was finally restored shortly after 22:00.

Finn said technicians were eventually able to identify a faulty relay and carry out repairs to stabilise the power supply.

“There were a few incidents of cable theft and vandalism during the outage, meaning there are still some pockets without electricity.”

Florida Glen remains without power, but City Power reported that teams are on the ground attempting to identify the cause of the outage.

Electricity has been restored to Florida Hills, although one distributor has not been switched on because of a fault.

Finn said three or four streets in the area are still affected, with City Power continuing its investigation.

City Power’s Roodepoort Customer Service Centre dealt with several widespread outages over the weekend, including in Matholesville, Tshepisong, Wilropark, Helderkruin, Florida and surrounding areas, Bergbron, Whiteridge, Weltevreden Park and Honeydew, resulting in a dark and bitterly cold weekend for many frustrated residents.