A call has been made for more security personnel around substations in the north of Pretoria, especially during this winter season.
This comes after the repair of Wolmer 132kv substation in Onderstepoort, which was vandalised by armed criminals on the night of May 19.
The group of unknown assailants vandalised the substation, leaving north residents in the dark.
The substation was only repaired on May 24.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said a technical team from the Energy and Electricity Department (EED) was dispatched to assess the extent of the damage and start the repair process.
“The process included replacing faulty cables.
“After completing the repair work, another cable fault was identified around 06:30 within the substation yard, which affected the restoration of electricity to Clarina and Winternest,” said Mashigo.
He said at around 13:00, four more underground cable faults were discovered on the network rings, which further delayed the process of restoring electricity to Clarina.
“The EED team immediately began trenching a section on the N4 Willem Cruywagen Bridge to access a suspected faulty cable.
“Additional support units were deployed to ensure that power was restored soon,” said Mashigo.
Ward 2 councillor Quentin Meyer said more police officers are needed around the substation.
This comes after the security guards at the substation were held at gunpoint by criminals who tied them up.
Meyer said the security company should put more measures in place to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.
Clarina Elizabeth Johnson said more security personnel is needed around substations, especially during this winter season.
“I woke with no power and I thought it was load-shedding but last time I checked, load-shedding was suspended until further notice.
“These criminals will mess around this kind of infrastructure and we need more security personnel around them to prevent such issues.
“It mustn’t be only the security company but the police must also do patrols in these areas because some people depend on electricity to live,” said Johnson.
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