Soshanguve’s power struggles spark substation overhaul in Tshwane

For years, residents in Soshanguve have learned to live with the flicker. The kettle clicks off mid-boil. The fridge hum fades without warning. Shop owners scramble for generators. In parts of Block W, power cuts have become so common that some families joke about planning dinner around them.

Now, the City of Tshwane says it is moving from patchwork fixes to long-term repairs, starting with the troubled W Substation.

A long-overdue fix in Block W

The refurbishment of the W Secondary Substation in Ward 59 began in October 2025 and is expected to wrap up by the end of March 2026. The project includes security improvements, structural repairs and the replacement of outdated equipment a critical intervention after years of strain, vandalism and infrastructure theft.

Mayor Nasiphi Moya recently visited the site as part of an oversight tour, describing the upgrade as a turning point for a community that has carried the brunt of unstable supply.

Repeated outages in Soshanguve, she noted, often originate at substation level. When these nodes fail, entire sections go dark. Strengthening them, she argues, is the first real step toward reliability.

And in a township where small businesses operate on tight margins from hair salons to internet cafés dependable electricity is more than convenience. It’s survival.

Why substations matter more than you think

Substations are the quiet middlemen of the power grid. When they’re damaged or outdated, faults can ripple outward, affecting wide areas. The city says a refurbished W Substation will allow for better “operational flexibility.” In practical terms, that means when something goes wrong, only smaller sections are impacted instead of entire neighbourhoods.

Fewer widespread outages. Faster restoration. Less chaos.

It’s a shift from reactive repairs to prevention something residents have long demanded on local WhatsApp groups and community forums. Social media posts over the past year have regularly highlighted frustration about cable theft, slow response times and the knock-on effects of blackouts on schools and clinics.

A broader stabilisation push

The W Substation is not the only focus. The Riamapark 11kV substation has also been prioritised after infrastructure degradation and criminal damage increased the risk of recurring failures. Replacement equipment has been installed, loads have been reconfigured to more secure setups and vandalised components repaired. Building refurbishment there is scheduled for completion by February 2026.

Meanwhile, the Blesbok Substation is undergoing refurbishment and commissioning as part of what the city calls a structured, long-term risk reduction programme.

Mayor Moya insists this is not about short-term patch jobs. Instead, the multiparty coalition government is pursuing a step-by-step rebuilding of critical electricity nodes restoring backup capacity, increasing preventative maintenance, tightening security and improving communication during outages.

The bigger picture: theft, neglect and recovery

Soshanguve’s challenges are not unique. Across Gauteng, ageing infrastructure combined with theft and vandalism has battered municipal networks. Substations are frequent targets, stripped for copper and valuable components. Each incident sets back already strained systems.

Historically, maintenance budgets have often been deferred in favour of urgent repairs elsewhere. Over time, that cycle eroded reliability. Residents have grown weary of promises, and public trust in service delivery has taken a hit.

This latest intervention signals an attempt to break that cycle by modernising rather than merely mending.

Will it make a difference?

If completed on schedule, the upgrades could mean fewer large-scale outages and more stable daily supply for homes, schools and businesses in Soshanguve.

But residents will ultimately measure success not by site visits or press statements, but by whether the lights stay on.

For now, there is cautious optimism. In a community that has endured years of disruption, even the promise of steady power feels like a small but meaningful victory.