Lindhaven one of many suburbs without power
Like many others, Lindhaven struggles without power due to vandalism and poor maintenance.
Late in February, the residents of Magnolia Street gathered to discuss the trouble they were having with power outages.
Richard Strydom, a resident, expressed his concerns regarding vandalism that takes place at the substation on Progress Road. According to him and other residents who also expressed their concerns, the substation is left unlocked, resulting in theft and vandalism, an act which, according to the residents, may lead them to believe that City Power officials might be involved.
The way maintenance is being done in the area is also something the residents are questioning.
Also read: Provincial Roads department confident Hendrik Potgieter Road will be reopened by the end of the year
According to Andrea Smith, another resident of the area, the people responsible for the maintenance and repairs of the power cables either do not show up or show up and leave after a few minutes, without having done any work; repairs are often not viable. One of the power cables caught fire after it had been worked on, leaving residents wondering about the repairing methods used.
According to Ward Councillor René Benjamin, the vandalism of substations is a common problem and Johannesburg City Power does not have the ‘budget or resources’ to fix this issue.
For this reason, residents of certain areas have come together to help prevent vandalism, by putting up fences around the substation and patrolling the area.
Zaheera Walker from City Power stated they have sent someone out to the substation on Progress Road and it is now locked.
Walker further stated, “Recurring theft and vandalism at the Reefhaven Switching Station on Progress Road in recent weeks have been the primary cause of outages affecting customers in Lindhaven. The Switching Station is padlocked and only accessible to City Power officials, however, vagrants from the nearby informal settlement break open the locks to steal or vandalise equipment. City Power prides itself in providing quality workmanship at all times and its primary focus is to ensure there is a power supply to our customers. However, infrastructure crimes such as theft and vandalism harm supply to our customers.”
Isaac Mangena, spokesperson for City Power stated, “Maintenance is carried out according to the annual maintenance plan.”
