South Africa’s richest city plunged into darkness due to cable theft and vandalism

Large parts of Johannesburg have been plunged into darkness, with reports that some areas have been without power for over a week.

These include Lombardy East, Rembrandt Park, River Park, Far East Bank, and West Bank, as well as sections of Alexandra and Tsutsumani.

The City of Johannesburg has attributed this to cable theft and vandalism at the Alexandra Substation that left two of its transformers damaged.

The substation was placed under emergency isolation by City Power on 29 September, and the energy supply remains unreestablished to date.

Other parts of Johannesburg have experienced power outages and unreliable supply in recent months, including communities powered by the Gresswold Substation, such as Houghton and Oaklands.

During September, sections of the CBD suffered extended interruptions due to repeated fires at the Central Substation in Marshalltown.

After one such outage, electricity was restored for one day before another fire broke out at the substation, cutting off the supply once again.

Similar to the Alexandra Substation, City Power subsequently reported evidence of suspected cable theft and vandalism in the tunnels underneath the Central Substation.

Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Nico De Jager, said these are serious crimes, and that those responsible should be found and prosecuted.

“But criminality cannot become a permanent excuse for a network that is inadequately protected and increasingly unable to withstand failures,” De Jager said.

“City Power itself has acknowledged that theft and vandalism place a substantial financial burden on the utility and divert resources away from maintenance and upgrades.”

Johannesburg’s electricity crisis has escalated in recent years due to a combination of ageing infrastructure, insufficient maintenance, and lacklustre capital investment.

De Jager said the City had allowed these problems to accumulate over a number of years, and that it now requires more than emergency repairs after the infrastructure has failed.

He said the City now needed a funded programme of preventative maintenance, speedy replacement of outdated infrastructure, and effective security at substations.

In addition, he said the City’s administration needed to restore financial discipline, safeguard its assets, and invest in essential infrastructure for businesses and residents.

“Every prolonged outage costs residents money,” De Jager said. “Food spoils, businesses lose income, and some are forced to close their doors. This leads to more job losses.”

“Security systems fail, and households must spend more to keep the lights on. Johannesburg cannot continue stumbling from one electricity emergency to the next.”