Many neighborhoods in Pretoria East are again without power after the theft of cables interrupted power supply to several substations.
Given the massive damage done, repairs may take a long time.
Lindela Mashigo, spokesperson for the Tshwane metro, says cables were stolen from the Njala 132KV substation which means power supply was interrupted on Wednesday morning.
This substation is responsible for the power supply to several other substations in Tshwane, including those at Watloo 1, Mamelodi 1, 2 and 3, as well as Wapadrand, Mooikloof, Koedoespoort and Heatherly.
“Technicians from the metro’s utilities and coordination department for regional operations are at the substation to determine the extent of the problem,” says Mashigo.
The metro tweeted that around 100m of cables had been cut and stolen. These cables are multi-core cables and will not be reattached, but must be completely replaced.
“At this stage it looks like the damage is extensive and the rewiring will take a long time to complete.”
About 25m of the 4 cables were cut and stolen. In total +/- 100m. These are multicore cables for substation protection and they need to be replaced and not joined. The damage is huge and rewiring of the burnt equipment will take a long time as well. pic.twitter.com/xGyODiGoXW
— City of Tshwane (@CityTshwane) July 12, 2023
