Theft and vandalism led to wide Vanderbijlpark power outage

Vandalism, robbery, and a malfunctioning transformer at the town’ substation caused damage to the 11kV transformer breaker, 11kV panels, and cables that resulted in severe power outages
throughout the Vanderbijlpark area from the 15th of April, which lasted for a week.

Melusi Ndlovu (32), manager of Emfuleni municipality in Vanderbijlpark, said at the time “due to
the extensive damage caused by cable theft and vandalism inside the town substation, it will
take some time to restore power.”

Ndlovu added that even when energy was restored, power would still not be available
in all Vanderbijlpark locations due to a work schedule that would be followed, based on the extent of
the damage.

The municipality conducted further investigations and stated on their social media sites that a malfunctioning transformer in one of the Vanderbijlpark neighborhoods had also caused a power outage.

Restoring power was difficult because of heavy rain in April. “The rain has slowed progress because the new transformer and cables cannot be installed when it is raining. I know residents are outraged because they have been without electricity for days and will continue to not have any lights for several more days,” Ndlovu said.

Damage repair is not a process that can be performed at any moment, therefore the electricians
could not risk the machines’ sensitivity. As a result, residents could be without reliable electricity for
months due to the fact that it takes time to get a new transformer.

During the week-long power cut, residents were affected badly.

Lilly Stein (27), manager of Slap Chips in Vanderbijlpark, said, “It has been five days since we had electricity, and I’ve lost a lot of money because I had to shut down entirely due to refrigerators being off and we don’t have any generators.” Stein also mentioned that her employees would be affected by this as she would not be able to pay them. 

“I had to throw away my meat stock because it was completely rotten and on top of that I did
not make any income for almost a week,” Stein added, explaining the damages that the shop
had encountered.

Thembi Mbatha (22), student at the North-West University said, “my neighborhood has
been without power for the past five days, which has been the most difficult period.”

Mbhatha said that she had to wake up early in the morning so she could take a shower at the
university’s restrooms before the cleaners arrived. “I had to study the entire day since I knew
there would be no time for me to catch up on my studies when I returned home due to the
power outage,” she added.

Mbatha said she had to get up early in the morning and spent the whole day on campus studying. “I endured the most difficult academic week of my life since I was exhausted, didn’t get enough sleep,
and had to get up very early in order to shower privately and appear normal, as if I had
showered at home. I only wish our municipal government could do its job so we wouldn’t
have to endure this,” Mbatha added.

Lindiwe Khoza (46), a Vanderbijlpark resident, said, “I had to take my clothes and iron to work, it was humiliating for me, but I didn’t have an alternative because I needed to change into formal attire.”

After a seven-day blackout in the Vanderbijlpark area, power was restored on 21 April, wires were
constructed, and the damaged generator was replaced.