Sabotage suspected as Central substation fire prolongs Johannesburg CBD outage

Some parts of the Johannesburg CBD have been without electricity since an outage on 6 September. Residents in parts of the Johannesburg CBD are facing another lengthy outage after another fire at the same critical substation. Some streets in Marshalltown and the surrounding areas have been without electricity since 6 September following an unplanned outage at the Central substation. Another fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning, just as City Power had reached the restoration of 98% of the affected area. City Power were yet to determine the cause of the fire, but noted the suspicious timing of the most recent fire at the substation. “Once the smoke has subsided and emergency medical services confirms that the area is safe to enter, City Power operators will conduct a technical assessment,” the entity stated just before 10am on Saturday. Timing ‘deeply concerning’ Fire crews were on scene to secure the site, with City Power unable to offer residents solace. “City Power cannot at this stage confirm the cause of this morning’s fire or the extent of the damage. The findings will determine the repairs required and inform the restoration plan,” entity spokesperson Isaac Mangena stated. Central substation was damaged by a fire in late April, with a second fire occurring on 9 September during the latter stages of City Power’s initial restoration of the 6 September outage. Saturday’s fire occurred while only a few distributors still required repairs, and after the substation’s four ring main units had been replaced. Mangena said preliminary investigations into the 9 September fire suggested theft and vandalism was to balme, and stated there appeared to be “sabotage and serious organised criminality” targeting the entity. City Power CEO Charles Tlouane expressed his frustration at the repeated adverse occurrences. “We are extremely concerned by what appears to be a sequence of incidents affecting the same critical electricity infrastructure within a very short period. “Our teams have spent weeks repairing extensive damage and were close to completing the restoration of the network when another fire occurred. “While we will not speculate on the cause of this latest incident before the necessary investigations are completed, the pattern and timing of these fires are deeply concerning and require a thorough investigation,” said Tlouane. Vandalism arrests Earlier this week City Power confirmed the arrest of three suspects connected to the theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure. Two men were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the theft of 300m of aerial bundled cable stolen on 20 September from a site in Lawley, near Lenasia. On Friday morning, private security found a man inside an electricity chamber which had been vandalised. “These barbaric acts of vandals resulted in an estimated loss of R2.5 million, highlighting the significant financial and operational consequences of infrastructure crime. “The organisation will continue working with law enforcement and security partners to pursue those responsible for attacks on critical electricity infrastructure,” Mangena concluded.