City Power says most parts of Johannesburg will remain in the dark for longer periods following last week’s devastating floods in its coverage area.
The entity says efforts to restore power is being hampered by vandalism of power supply infrastructure and acts of violence.
The floods have also caused damage to power supply infrastructure, roads, houses and businesses in most parts of Soweto, Alexandra and the West Rand.
City Power CEO Tshifularo Mavasa briefed the media in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon.
“It is also an opportunity for us to be able to appeal to communities to be able to refrain from some violent acts. As we speak to you now today we had an incident where by somebody shot at our transformer with a gun. It therefore means now customers are off. We do not understand what bring about such act of violence to our infrastructure which is vandalism which resulting to our customers being off for longer period.”
Rolling blackouts remains a challenge for small business sector:
Meanwhile, the African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa says there is no time frame in which to end the rolling blackouts that Eskom has subjected the country to. Eskom had reduced its rolling blackouts from Stage Five to Four, after escalating them to Stage Six.
Ramaphosa is visiting Philippi and Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats as part of the ANC’s Letsema Campaign. The aim of the campaign in the party’s Dullah Omar region is to strengthen the governing party’s connection the grass-root structures. Ramaphosa says several issues are affecting Eskom’s operations.
“We need to repair that broken system and it has been so for quite a long time. Its got many parts to it. Its got skills base to it, its got machines based to it, its got flawed designs of power stations, its got various aspects. And its also got an element of sabotage.where people, either service providers or employees go in and cut wires so that there can breakage of units. so its a combination of all these things we are dealing with.”
ANC’s Letsema campaign kicks off in Cape Town:
