UPDATE: Some power expected back by Saturday
According to Ekurhuleni mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele, 70 per cent of power was expected to be restored to Benoni suburbs by Saturday, January 23.
Sand and oil covered the majority of Lessing Street on Friday (January 22), where at least a dozen cars from EMPD, EMS, SPCA and two TV networks were waiting for the mayor to arrive.
Gungubele arrived at the station to address media and shed light on the fire which had ravaged one of the transformers in the Rynfield substation earlier the day.
The fire had caused power outages in much of Benoni since it started, at around 5am in the morning.
Gungubele said only one of the two transformers had been affected, as Ekurhuleni Emergency Services (EMS) suppressed the fire soon after it started.
He added that the unharmed transformer was capable of handling a provisional 70 per cent power capacity, which was expected to be restored by the next day.
The operational transformer had already allowed power to be restored to a few suburbs.
At the time of publishing, Gungubele could not say which suburbs would have power restored at the weekend.
According to Zweli Dlamini, mayoral spokesperson, the worst case scenario concerning the restoration of power in the rest of Benoni was five to seven days, as the burnt out transformer had to be replaced.
Themba Gadebe, EMM spokesperson, said a more accurate time frame for the return of full capacity would be known after the provisional power had been restored.
He couldn’t specify when or where the provisional power supply would kick in.
