Lights off in Nasaret after ‘unlicensed” driver mows down substation
Nasaret residents are fuming after a man crashed into a large substation, levelling the transformers to the ground, shortly after 08:00 today.
DA Councillor Morgan Bruiners is on-site, and says that colleagues of the unidentified driver who spoke to him following the crash, allege that the driver does not have a valid driver’s licence, and was warned multiple times by them not to get behind the wheel of the eight-ton truck.
The driver, according to Bruiners, is a foreigner who fled the scene after the crash.
Since the collision, the entire Nasaret has been left without electricity.
Municipal teams have not yet arrived on site to assess the damage, Bruiners says.
He told the Middelburg Observer that he was told by municipal officials that the owner of the truck will be tracked to cover damages.
The driver has not been found by the time of publishing.
Bruiners says the driver should be arrested for driving without a valid licence, despite multiple warnings for him not to do so, and damaging critical infrastructure.
“The municipality is cash strapped and the damage is enormous and will be costly,” Bruiners says.
It is unclear when the electricity supply will be restored to Nasaret as damages have not been fully assessed by the electrical department.
According to Bruiners the driver lives in the community and is known by residents.
