Pretoria residents furious as long power outages leave neighbourhoods in the dark

For many households in Pretoria, the past week has felt like a throwback to the worst days of load shedding except this time, the lights simply haven’t come back on.

Across several neighbourhoods, residents say they have been stuck without electricity for days, with some reporting outages that have stretched close to a full week. The prolonged blackouts have triggered growing frustration among residents and councillors, who say answers from the City of Tshwane have been scarce.

For people trying to work from home, run small businesses or simply keep food from spoiling, the situation has become more than just inconvenient.

Some residents without electricity for nearly four days

In the suburb of Rietfontein in the Pretoria Moot area, resident Pieter Fourie says his household went 89 hours without power.

According to Fourie, repeated reports to municipal officials have brought little clarity.

He said councillors have tried escalating the issue with the city, but residents are still unsure what exactly caused the outage.

Because the problem is not classified as a full block or area outage, some residents say they feel left in the dark both literally and figuratively.

At night, the situation becomes even more concerning.

With many streetlights also out, some residents say entire streets are left in near-total darkness, raising fears about crime and security.

Multiple suburbs affected

The outages have not been limited to one neighbourhood.

Residents in Villieria, as well as streets such as Farm Road, Cura Avenue and Drakenstein Crescent, have also reported extended power interruptions this month.

According to Jacqui Uys, a councillor and spokesperson for the Democratic Alliance caucus in Tshwane, the situation in the Wapadrand electricity supply area has become “untenable”.

She said the outages appear to be linked to faults in the cable network, a long-standing issue affecting parts of the city’s electricity infrastructure.

Infrastructure problems blamed

Uys argued that many of the current problems could have been avoided if electrical faults had been addressed before the commissioning of a new substation in the area.

According to her, faulty cables can trigger repeated system trips if underlying problems are not fixed beforehand.

The DA has continued to push for repairs to these infrastructure issues, she said, raising the matter during council meetings and budget votes.

The party has also lodged a complaint with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, arguing that the state of Tshwane’s electricity network requires urgent intervention.

Municipal worker points to deeper problems

A municipal employee who spoke anonymously said the outages highlight years of neglected infrastructure maintenance.

According to the worker, several factors are contributing to the strain on the network.

These include aging infrastructure, rapid property development placing extra pressure on the grid, and illegal electricity connections that weaken the system.

Repair work can also be slowed by strict overtime policies affecting municipal technicians.

The employee claimed crews sometimes work long hours during emergencies but later take time off instead of overtime pay, which can slow down service restoration.

City promises repairs are underway

Despite the frustration among residents, the city says progress is being made.

Frans Boshielo, Tshwane’s MMC for utility services, confirmed that critical repair work at the Waltloo Substation has been completed.

Electricity, he said, should be restored once final testing of the system has been concluded.

However, the municipality had not yet responded to additional requests for comment about the wider outages affecting several suburbs.

Social media frustration grows

Unsurprisingly, the situation has sparked anger online.

Residents have been sharing photos of dark streets and complaining about lost groceries, disrupted work schedules and security concerns.

Some compared the outages to load shedding except with far less predictability.

Others questioned whether ageing municipal infrastructure across the city is slowly reaching breaking point.

A warning sign for the capital’s infrastructure

Pretoria has long faced infrastructure challenges, particularly as the city expands and new housing developments place additional pressure on electricity networks.

Energy experts have often warned that without consistent maintenance and upgrades, cable faults and transformer failures can become more frequent.

For the residents sitting in the dark this week, those warnings now feel very real.

Until power is fully restored, many households in Pretoria will be watching their phones and their streetlights, hoping the next update finally brings the lights back on.

{Source: The Citizen}

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