UPDATE: Dangerous cable replaced
BROMHOF – Johannesburg Water admits it damaged the cable that caused sparks and smoke.
City Power has replaced the exposed electricity cable that caused a scare in Bromhof on 29 January.
The cable shot out sparks and produced plenty of smoke for a few minutes on Hawken Avenue.
At the advice of a Telkom operations manager on scene, six onlookers ran to a safe distance, in case of an explosion.
Johannesburg Water damaged the cable when they replaced a leaking water pipe the day before, the entity’s external communications officer Eleanor Mavimbela confirmed.
According to Noddy Maharaj, Telkom’s operations manager for underground cables in the area, the cable was so damaged that the dampness in the soil around it caused the phenomenon.
An explosion was unlikely, he said afterwards, despite him initially shouting to everyone, “get back, it’s live!”
He added that if anyone had touched the cable at any point, they would have been electrocuted.
Resident Doreen Edmunds said that City Power replaced the cable about four and a half hours later.
“I am glad the cable is fixed,” she said, although lamenting that there was still a large trench outside her property.
Ward 101 councillor Ralf Bittkau commented, “I worry about this sort of thing happening but at the same time I must also say that accidents do happen.
“As this is a highly dangerous situation I feel that not only should they [Johannesburg Water] have logged a call but they should have secured the area better.”
Mavimbela added that Johannesburg Water will fill the trench as soon as possible, after the soil dries.
Questions were sent to City Power spokesperson Sydney Mphahlele, and comment is awaited.
Details: Johannesburg Water 011 688 1699; City Power 011 375 5555; Ward 101 councillor Ralf Bittkau 084 572 4002.
