PeeKay wrote: Molefe promised no load shedding
Its not load shedding. A substation caught on fire and as a result 19 panels got damaged.
www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/...day-blackout-9313272
Pretoria – Residents in the east of Pretoria can expect to be without power for the next five days, if not longer.
This comes after a fire engulfed the Mooikloof 132KV substation on Tuesday, leaving many of the surrounding suburbs without electricity.
City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the outage occurred on the medium volume circuit breaker inside the substation.
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It will take about five days for power to be restored after the Mooikloof 132KV substation caught fire yesterday.
An estimated 19 panels were damaged by the fire. “It is not quite clear what type of panels were damaged,” said Mashigo.
The whole substation was isolated and cordoned off by officials to enable emergency services and the electrical department to work on it.
“The work will include thorough investigation of the fire and cleaning up the rubble,” he said. Only then can the cost be determined, added Mashigo.
The explosion occurred just after the lunch hour, grinding peak-hour traffic to a standstill.
Tshwane Emergency Services rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire, and spokesperson Johan Pieterse said it was still not clear what caused the blaze.
“We are not sure whether it’s overloading or what, but the electricity department will investigate and will be able to shed light.”
The fire outbreak has left many in the dark and scrambling for answers.
Numerous reports suggested that the fire might have been due to lack of maintenance, while some residents attributed the blaze to cable theft.
Jolandie Germishuys, who lives in the area, reckoned that the fire could have been caused by overloading from all the new developments and no proper maintenance on the already strained network.
But Anita Ribeiro, who lives right next door to the power station, said in a Facebook post it couldn’t have been lack of of maintenance because the substation was not that old.
A livid Valerie Meyer, said: “Five days of power outages because of cable theft they fix it and the same day they steal it how long before they do something about it? And it is always in the same spot affecting the same area.”
Another resident, Celine du Randt, said: “Apparently our power problem is because of cable theft.”
Japie Motau blamed foul play.
The city administration said affected suburbs were Moreleta Park, Pretorius Park, Garsfontein, Boardwalk Meander, Woodhill, The Wilds, Mooikloof, Mooikloof Ridge, Onbekend, Zwavelpoort and Mooikloof Agricultural Holdings.
Some of the affected large power users include Woodlands Mall and Pretoria East Hospital.
Last month, a substation also burnt down in the Menlyn area affecting the Menlyn shopping mall. But power was soon restored.
Centurion also suffered power outages when, last month, a substation burnt down on Cantonments Road.
The City said it had been tampered with.
David Farquharson, councillor for Ward 57, which covers Die Hoewes, Lyttelton Manor and Lyttleton, said: “Unauthorised people tampered with the electrical box near the Cantonments Road substation. They were shocked, and badly burnt.” Four injured men were taken to Unitas hospital.
Meanwhile, Garsfontein residents in Extension 10 are still up in arms following electricity outages since last Thursday.
The metro’s recently-established Anti-Cable Theft Unit reported successes during Easter.
The unit arrested 12 people, and recovered several tons of copper valued at over R500 000.
Three arrests were made at Rooiwal power station, one at Groenkloof, four at Mimosa and two each at Waterkloof and Rosslyn.
In his maiden budget speech last week, executive mayor Solly Msimanga allocated a huge chunk – R1.3billion – to maintenance and repair of infrastructure.
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