Fire damages and vandalism add to Joburg central substation woes

City Power says theft and vandalism have cost it hundreds of millions of rands in repairs, while outages continue to disrupt the inner city. A flashover on a breaker is just the latest problem at Johannesburg’s central substation in Marshalltown, yet again delaying the restoration of power to large parts of the inner city. This substation provides electricity to the inner city and surrounding areas but has had more than 10 major incidents in the 2025-26 financial year and again in the 2026-27 financial year. Infrastructure crime drives repeated outages Some of these incidents are related to cable theft and vandalism. City Power says since January 2026, it has recorded six fire-related incidents involving its electricity infrastructure, of which four have been confirmed to have elements of theft and vandalism. While 10 incidents in the 2025-26 financial year cost the city more than R4 million to fix, last month is way more costly, with the fires doing damage of at least R20 million each in the two incidents. “It is important to note that the financial impact of infrastructure crime extends beyond the direct cost of replacing damaged equipment,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena. “Theft and vandalism result in repeated emergency repairs, security interventions, additional staff and material costs, and can prolong electricity outages. “During the 2025-26 financial year, City Power spent approximately R260 million on repairs arising from theft and vandalism, compared with approximately R235.4 million in 2024-25. The first fire at the substation started at 1am on 9 September, just hours after City Power had re-established electricity supply at 7pm the night before following an initial outage reported on 6 September, Mangena said. “The second incident occurred at central substation on Saturday, 26 September. The inner city has an underground tunnel network of approximately 14km, with around 81 manholes and several substations physically linked to the network. “These include Central, Fordsburg, City Gen, Durban Street, Bree, Kazerne, Pritchard and Braamfontein substations. “The network has increasingly become vulnerable to criminal activity, including unauthorised access to underground infrastructure, cable theft, vandalism and the removal of electricity components,” Mangena said. Marshalltown residents and businesses bear the brunt The flashover last Sunday, said Mangena, meant City Power had to isolate the substation. “Customers supplied from central substation will therefore remain without electricity. The affected supply areas include End Street, Wemmer West, Wemmer East, Selby Central, Anderson Street West, Commissioner Street West, Selby East, Carlton Centre, Albert Street West, Commissioner Street East, Fox Street West, Marshall Street East, Marshall Street West and Anderson Street East,” he said. Even before the latest incidents, Marshalltown experienced repeated and prolonged power outages linked to the central substation, said Mangena. “In April, a major outage lasting approximately one week followed a fire at the substation and the subsequent theft of electrical components during repairs. “More recently, the outage that started at approximately 3am on Monday, 3 August, was attributed by City Power to the theft of protection cables. These recurring outages continue to disrupt residents, businesses, and government institutions in Marshalltown,” he said. Tyrell Meyers, DA shadow MMC for infrastructure, said these constant outages have had a negative effect on residents and business. “To secure the tunnel network and the substations connected to it, City Power needs more than R1 billion to get tunnels up to scratch and make sure they are inaccessible to criminals – money that they just don’t have. “After these incidents, a lot of residents are still without electricity. Businesses have had enough; one butchery has spent over a R100 000 on diesel to keep going, it’s so unfair to them. It’s critical to get the substation going again,” he said. Security measures for the substation Mangena said City Power understands that the protection of the inner-city electricity infrastructure needs to be strengthened. “City Power has also written to the Gauteng police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Tommy Mthombeni, requesting urgent and sustained police intervention. “This includes day and night patrols around manholes, tunnel entrances, substations and identified hotspots; intelligence-led operations in the tunnels; joint operations involving Saps, JMPD and City Power’s risk control team; and investigations into networks involved in receiving, transporting and purchasing stolen electricity infrastructure,” Mangena said. City Power is also planning a R40 million tunnel rehabilitation project, which includes structural repairs, lighting, ventilation, drainage and improved security measures. As of Monday afternoon, power at the central substation had not been restored.