M1 fire: City Power works to restore electricity as students in Braamfontein suffer

City Power said electricity supply would be restored in Braamfontein and other parts of Johannesburg on Friday evening.

The areas have been without power after cable theft led to a fire in tunnels under the M1 highway last week.

“City Power is currently working on preparing two additional cables to assist in carrying that massive load from Wits and the remaining customers. Once this process is complete, all affected customers could be fully restored later this evening,” the entity said in a statement.

University students around the Wits precinct have complained that the prolonged power outage has disrupted their studies and livelihood.

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Students’ frustration and safety concerns

A video of a student from Wits circulating on social media expresses their discontent.

The student in the media footage says the power outage not only prevents them from being able to cook, iron and carry out other necessary daily activities but it also becoming expensive as they have to constantly buy takeaways and also throw away groceries due to spoiling.

“We haven’t had electricity for a week going on to two; that means that I cannot cook because you cannot cook with the sun,” said prettygent_official on TikTok.

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The student also had concerns about safety since the outage. He said there are more incindetns of theft and robbery due to the darkness.

“We have thieves on campus, not only am I going to have to spend money on food daily because bread, peanut butter, everyday 24/7- can’t work, I’m going to have to spend more money on groceries whenever electricity decides to come back and then spend more money on buying new chargers because I am a student that lives in Braamfontein,” the TikTok user added.

Watch video below:

@prettygent_official Tough times are lasting 😭 #university #universitylife #campuslife #varsitystudent #relateablecontent #explorepage #fyp #prettygent #firstyearstudent #SAMA28 ♬ original sound – prettygent_official

Power trip and restoration efforts

The fire was triggered by acts of vandalism, where 300 metres of cable were stolen.

City Power has been gradually restoring electricity supply to affected areas. The utility said it was returning power in phases to avoid overloading the grid.

According to City Power, there are ongoing refurbishments on the M1 bridge, although, the utility admitted that replacing both stolen and burnt cables may take some time.

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However, during this time interconnectors are being used as forms of contingency measures to provide temporary relief to customers.

Parts of Braamfontein and Parktown West that were recently switched on have again joined the areas who have been without power for just over a week. Affected areas include four streets in Braamfontein – Jorrisen Street, Siemens Street, De Korte North, Juta Street – and Parktown West.

The utility’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the power trip was due to fault and suspected overloading.

“These cables need to be handled with extra caution in order to avoid overloading and damaging them in the process,” Mangena said in a statement.

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EFF SRC discontent with Wits response

Wits said it has measures in place to alleviate the frustrations of students. According to an email shared by the university’s student representative council on social media, the measures include frequent communication with the City, food supplies to students in need, and access to nearby buildings for showering.

The email also included mechanisms to assist students academically, in the form of postponing tests, assessments and the possible recording of lectures.

However, the Economic Freedom Fighters led student command said it was not satisfied with these measures.

“Yesterday [Tuesday], the SRC took a stance for student safety and addressed power outage concerns with a memorandum of demands. This is the unfortunate response we were arrogantly slapped with.”

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