PICS: Political sabotage behind Tshwane darkness?

Despite vandalism and theft being top-of-mind for investigators, based on the extent and type of damage on the seven electricity pylons which collapsed along the N4 highway on Sunday night in Pretoria East, sabotage is the main suspect.

The incident led to the closure of the N4 freeway east between Solomon Mahlangu and Simon Vermooten on- and off-ramps. Tshwane MMC for utilities and regional operations councillor Themba Fosi said human influence was the suspected cause of the collapse.

“Pylons can’t just collapse. They are stress-tested.”

Tshwane lost 300MW of power in an instant on Sunday night. Speaking to The Citizen on condition of anonymity, Eskom and Tshwane electricity technicians said they felt the collapsed pylons were a deliberate act of sabotage, because “all these pylons were cut at the bottom with a grinder”.

“They were not cut today, yesterday or a few days back. They were cut a long time ago and whoever cut them made sure that they would all fall over with a little push from strong wind,” one of the technicians noted.

“If you look at the steel where it was cut, it has already rusted. It was clearly cut with a rechargeable grinder because you cannot get the power out here to use that kind of machine.

“And having dealt with cable theft before, it’s far more sophisticated than the usual vandalism and theft.

“Some of these pylons have the same damage and are not missing any parts. We’re not saying there isn’t a problem of theft and vandalism in the area and it definitely previously played a part, but there is far more to it than that.”

The technician said during their inspection, due to the extent of the damage, much of what was damaged cannot be reused.

Political analyst Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast said following the rampant criminality, including acts of theft and sabotage at Eskom, it was hard to put it past a point of sabotage.

ALSO READ: Large parts of Tshwane in the dark after pylons collapse on the N4

“I’m not trying to problematise what is happening at Eskom too much, but it has happened at Eskom, there have been reported acts of sabotage and we can attribute this to that as well,” he said.

“The past is still with us in terms of the resistance to change. With the new reforms, many people have been resistant to that.”

Around 50% of Pretoria East, Pretoria North and Centurion residents have had their power restored. However, there was still no estimated restoration time for the remaining customers as they were already into day four of outage.

Following an oversight visit, newly elected mayor Cilliers Brink said certain areas have been supplied from available supply areas. However, restoration would only fully happen once the damage has been repaired.

Brink said based on discussions with Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, there were plans to install “mono-poles” instead of the same pylons, “which in fact is not a temporary solution, but becomes a better permanent solution”.

ALSO READ: Stage 5 load shedding on the cards as Tshwane remains in darkness due to pylons collapse

He said there were no set timelines for the repairs as they were looking to use an entirely different structure.

“Because as opposed to these pylons, the mono-poles do not have value for being vandalised or being stripped,” he added.

“It’s not as vulnerable to theft and vandalism as the pylons are. In fact, the practice seems to be to shift to these mono-poles in any event and so we don’t need to replace the old-style pylons.”

Ramokgopa said Eskom had come on board.

“We’re also on board as national government because the responsibility can’t just be on the shoulders of mayor Brink and the city”.

“We are going to lend a hand once they have a better appreciation of the scale of the damage and also what it requires and takes for them to fix this,” he added.

ALSO READ: Brace yourself: Winter is coming, and so too stage 10 load shedding

Meanwhile, residents in the surrounding areas have called for scrapyards to be shut down and said despite having rules and regulations, they still accepted stolen goods which made the area a major threat for further theft.

Mamelodi resident Joy Sekhoela said residents have urged police to close scrapyards in Watloo, “because they are making crime and theft rampant. Even after they have fixed this they will continue to vandalise and steal.”

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za