City Power workers stopped by protestors from attending to outages

A number of areas across Gauteng will continue to remain without electricity, after City Power teams were stopped by protestors from responding to the outages.

According to a statement from Isaac Mangena, spokesperson for City Power, teams were not able to respond to outage complaints due to the volatility of the situation in areas of Roodepoort and surroundings.

“We have been informed by the JMPD and other law enforcement agencies of several road closures following a protest action by the residents since the morning, in which even rubber bullets were shot and cars and property reportedly damaged.

“We have advised our teams to stay clear of the CBD and nearby suburbs to ensure their safety and that of City Power trucks,” he said.

He confirmed that 40% of the depot service area was affected by the protests.

“This, unfortunately, means repair work will be affected, as we won’t be able to attend to outage calls or do any work in the area until it is safe to do so. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers in the area,” he said.

JMPD’s spokesperson, Xolani Fihle, confirmed that protests in Roodepoort broke out this morning, near the Tshedzani flats, after residents recently received eviction notices.

Fihle said that the residents had closed off roads in the Roodepoort CBD area, but they were opened again by police.

He also said the residents were expected to return and embark on a planned protest from Roodepoort to Russel House in Braamfontein to hand over a memorandum.

Fihle advised that motorists and commuters can expect road interruptions from 10am to 1pm in the CBD area later today.

City Power also confirmed that the following substations were currently experiencing power outages, but fortunately fell in the other 60% of their depot service area:

• Peter Road Substation
• Christiaan de Wet Substation
• Ruimsig Switching Station
• Florin Road Switching Station
• Panorama Switching Station
• Boothill Switching Station
• Ridge Road Switching Station

Mangena said that the cause of the outages was not yet known, but that they will be updating customers as and when information becomes available. He said it was important to note that these areas were not affected by the CBD protests and would be attended to.