Fire that ravaged Pyramid substation linked to sabotage

The fire at the Pyramid substation that left parts of Rooiwal, north of Pretoria, without power and water was believed to be a blatant act sabotage.

Local farmer Theunis Vogel said the City of Tshwane should declare the Hammanskraal as a disaster area.

“The Rooiwal sewage plant was in ruins, the Apies River in ruins, everything in Hammanskraal was in ruins.

“The power plant has been out of order for almost 13 years and now the substation burned down,” he said.

Third fire at Pyramid substation

Vogel said it was the third time the Pyramid substation had tripped and burned down.

“There were supposed to be two transformers but due to theft and corruption, the other part burned down, and the insurance payout was never used to rebuild it in five years,” he said.

“Now they budgeted to rebuild it but it’s been standing still for five months. When the other one burned down, they got it back up running in a month.”

Vogel said he anticipated they would be without power for longer than a month this time around because there wasn’t another transformer available.

“More than 250 smallholdings are without water and power now,” he said.

City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said technicians were working around the clock to ensure that power supply was restored.

“Only the Rooiwal sewerage plant and households around the Pyramid substation have been affected,” he said.

“The incident tripped the 132kv Line 1 Bellom-Parktown, which caused an outage to the Pretoria North, Wonderboom, Wolmer, Pyramid, Pumulani, Koedoespoort and parts of Waltloo substations,” he said.

Fire said to be a blatant act of sabotage

Shadow MMC Utility Services Themba Fosi believes the incident at the substation was a blatant act of sabotage.

“It is evident that the damage inflicted on the substation was not accidental but a premeditated effort to cause destruction.

“Such malicious actions affect service delivery to the residents and undermine the stability of our city’s infrastructure,” he said.

“I conducted an oversight visit in the aftermath of the incident, where it was discovered that the locks had been forcibly cut, and the door was broken.

“Most alarmingly, the control panel cables had been cut, and the communication system vandalised – two critical instruments designed to prevent such fires,” he added.

Fosi said the DA Tshwane Caucus was particularly concerned about the potential motive behind this sabotage.

“When substations burn down, there are contractors who stand to gain financially from the subsequent repair and reconstruction work,” he said.

“The political vacuum created by last week’s motion of no confidence appears to have signalled to many that Tshwane’s coffers are once again open for looting.”

Fosi said the plans to bring water to Hammanskraal were on track with some areas expected to have water in taps by month-end in the first phase of the project.

ALSO READ: Fire breaks out at Correctional Services head office in Tshwane [VIDEO]

Acting mayor says residents must not panic

Acting City of Tshwane mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya said residents must not panic and added that the city was working on a plan for short-term water supply.

Moya said during an oversight visit that the fire caused a lot of damage which affected the power and water supply to Ward 96 and 49.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said the party was going to look deep into the water crisis matter.

Mashaba said in 2022 when ActionSA went into government with the DA, they had used a motion in council for the DA to give an update on the Hammanskraal water crisis.

“We started raising this matter before people died and then many died.

“Once the new mayor is elected, one of the first projects we want is an independent investigation into what really happened at Rooiwal.

“It will be one of the mandates of the new executive mayor,” he said.

ALSO READ: Crowdfunding campaign started to help Midrand fire victims: Here’s how you can help