Tshwane faces power crisis as substations suffer repeated attacks

The City of Tshwane is facing a crisis as its substations come under attack with multiple incidents of fires ravaging several municipal substations since October 2024.

Executive Mayor Nasiphi Moya sounded the alarm over the escalating crisis following the recent fire incident at the Zwartkop substation in Centurion on Tuesday.

Residents in areas like Clubview, Valhalla, and Thaba Tshwane have been left without power for nearly a week due to the substation explosion.

On Saturday, the City announced that technical teams have made significant progress, completing over 90% of the repair work. 

The latest incident comes after last month’s explosion at the Brakfontein substation, which  plunged residents into darkness for days.

Moya described the situation as “not normal,” highlighting that fires have previously occurred at other substations such as Pyramid, Watloo, Nyala, and Kwagga, adding that a preliminary report showed a lack of security at the facilities. 

“It is not normal. These are the primary substations that provide power to the majority of residents in the City of Tshwane. But what we have identified as this administration in the City of Tshwane is the decision to withdraw security from our infrastructure a couple of years ago is now starting to bite us,” she said.

She said the preliminary report revealed a lack of security as a contributing factor to the vandalism of municipal infrastructure.

She said it was easy for someone to enter a substation, cut a cable and leave, which ultimately led to a fire breaking out two hours later.

The SAPS in Tshwane could not comment on reported cases of criminality involving substations and promised to provide an update on Monday.

With more than 90% of the repair work having been completed at Zwartkop, municipal spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the final step is awaiting the delivery of a crucial component that links cables to the main transformer.

He said progress has been made in repairing the substation, with 9 single-core 11kV cables joined and all multicore cables installed and connected to the source.

“The testing team has also completed its testing work on the 11kV breaker, relay, current transformer and voltage transformer,” he said.

He mentioned that the municipal team is currently waiting for the delivery of the cable end box, which serves as a connector between the cables and the main transformer at the substation.

Bokaba said the end box is currently at the factory undergoing modifications after suffering extensive damages during the fire incident at the substation.

“The modification process is taking longer than anticipated due to the complexity of the end box’s original parts, which were initially manufactured in the early 70’s. Some of the parts had to be imported from other countries,” he said.

He said the factory’s team has also made progress in the modification process and the end box is expected to be delivered on site, at the latest by Monday.

“Once the box is delivered, the city’s technicians will do cable connection and conduct final testing, after which the substation will be energised,” he said.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za