Power Outage Forces Temporary Closure Of Pretoria High Court

Court proceedings in Pretoria came to an abrupt halt on Monday after a power outage forced the Gauteng Division of the High Court to temporarily suspend operations.

The unexpected disruption affected legal practitioners, members of the public and court staff who had scheduled matters on the court roll for Monday, 9 March 2026.

In a statement, the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) confirmed that the outage had impacted the court building and nearby areas, leaving officials with little choice but to pause operations while electricity restoration efforts got underway.

Court Proceedings Temporarily Suspended

According to the judiciary, the outage made it impossible for normal court services to continue throughout the day.

Officials advised all court users and legal representatives that proceedings would not continue until power was restored. Matters scheduled for the day will be rescheduled, with affected parties set to receive communication regarding alternative arrangements.

The OCJ added that the court administration is working closely with the City of Tshwane to resolve the issue and restore operations as quickly as possible.

Tshwane Investigates Widespread Electricity Fault

The City of Tshwane confirmed that technicians were responding to a medium-voltage outage affecting several key components in the area.

Infrastructure affected includes:

• GPW Substation

• Orbital Industrial Substation

• MRMU Proes/Shurbart

• MS Proes/Bosman

Municipal officials said the city’s switching team had been deployed to investigate the fault. At the time of the announcement, there was no confirmed estimated time for restoration.

Recent Power Issues Across Pretoria

The outage at the High Court comes after a weekend of electricity disruptions in parts of Pretoria, where severe weather conditions delayed restoration efforts.

One of the incidents involved the Waltloo Substation 132kV line, which tripped and caused outages in areas such as Mamelodi 1, Mamelodi 3 and the Heatherley Substation.

Additional areas affected by recent power issues include:

• Nellmapius Extension 3

• Nellmapius Extension 6

• Nellmapius Extension 7

• Nellmapius Extension 8

• Nellmapius Extension 22

• Savannah Hills Estate

Technicians were also dispatched to investigate faults linked to Transformer R at the Heatherley Substation, which had gone offline after a trip.

Ongoing Restoration Efforts

In a separate incident, Waltloo Substation 132kV Line 2 also tripped, affecting electricity supply to Mahube Valley, parts of Mamelodi and nearby communities.

Meanwhile, the Magalieskruin Substation went offline, leaving areas including Montana and Magalieskruin without power.

City officials say technical teams remain on site investigating the faults as restoration work continues.

For now, court users in Pretoria will have to wait for electricity to return before normal proceedings can resume at one of Gauteng’s busiest courts.

{Source:IOL}

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