The theft of electrical cables has been identified as the leading cause for prolonged power outages in Ekurhuleni, causing frustration for residents and businesses.
So bad is the situation in Ekurhuleni that the municipality overspent on its maintenance and repairs budget of R230m as a result of carrying more repairs than anticipated and budgeted for.
They spent R356m in the first quarter (July and September) of the 2022/2023 financial fiscal.
Residents of the metro, which is Gauteng’s industrial hub and has the largest number of manufacturers, vented their frustrations during the municipality’s public participation meetings between October and December.
Mike du Toit, former president of the Eastern Gauteng Chamber of Commerce, who works closely with businesses and the SA Police Service, said while rolling blackouts posed a threat to many businesses, cable theft had fast become the leading cause of power outages in the Springs area and other parts of Ekurhuleni.
“I still work closely with the police to monitor such trends that pose a threat to business, and cable theft is a massive problem. All these cases have impacted businesses, affecting production and essentially affecting profits.
“When the power goes off, big factories running big machinery, like a paper factory, they can’t get back into production for about 20 hours sometimes. That is the time it takes just to get those machines back up again.
“This causes a loss in production. On top of that, companies must now spend thousands of rand on generators. That is a loss of money.”
He said the electricity problems in the area had been coming for years.
In 2000 one of the biggest substations supplying electricity mostly to businesses exploded due to overloading, leaving factories without power for 70 days. This translated to a massive loss in production and led to a big tap manufacturing business shutting its doors and letting go of its workforce.
“About 150 to 200 people lost their jobs. There are smaller businesses too that have had to close shops and perhaps they are less visible than the big companies, but they contribute to the local economy,” he said.
Chairperson of the Germiston Business Forum Heidi Searle said they had lost a lot of businesses.
“Germiston is becoming a ghost town and it is because of the power outages. It’s an increasing concern for us,” Searle said, adding that extended and unplanned power cuts had significant impact on the functioning of programmed machines working in a factory environment.
“These impacts can range from machine downtime to product quality issues and increased costs. When power cuts occur, machines that are programmed to run continuously will stop working. This means that the production process will be interrupted, and there will be a delay in the output of finished goods,” she said.
This is the situation confronting newly elected mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana who raised the Tembisa township electricity crisis. The township has been hit by a number of electricity protests.
“We know Tembisa is facing a lot of issues such as electricity and billing system. We'll come to them and listen and see how we can resolve their issues. We want to avoid these things of being far from residents because once there’s a gap, that’s when problems start,” Ngodwana said.
On Tuesday, the municipality announced load reduction in parts of Tembisa after the township went dark due to a power interruption caused by two faulty transformers
A department of water, sanitation and energy oversight committee’s report tabled in council recently noted: “It was further stressed that cable theft and continuous load-shedding resulted in this over-expenditure. The department stressed that the city’s electrical network consists of distribution equipment varying in age and because of that, the effect of ongoing load-shedding on older equipment leads to breakdown of equipment and forced unplanned interruption in electricity supply.”
Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the breakdown of equipment, cables and theft was affecting all nine energy depots and cut across all wards.
“We have more than 50 intake substations from where other primary substations and secondary substations are fed. We are required to perform more maintenance and repairs in all nine depots — Alberton, Benoni, Boksburg, Brakpan, Edenvale, Germiston, Kempton Park, Springs and Tembisa,” he said.
Ekurhuleni businesses buckle under cable theft scourge
‘Germiston is becoming a ghost town’
Image: City of Ekurhuleni
The theft of electrical cables has been identified as the leading cause for prolonged power outages in Ekurhuleni, causing frustration for residents and businesses.
So bad is the situation in Ekurhuleni that the municipality overspent on its maintenance and repairs budget of R230m as a result of carrying more repairs than anticipated and budgeted for.
They spent R356m in the first quarter (July and September) of the 2022/2023 financial fiscal.
Residents of the metro, which is Gauteng’s industrial hub and has the largest number of manufacturers, vented their frustrations during the municipality’s public participation meetings between October and December.
Mike du Toit, former president of the Eastern Gauteng Chamber of Commerce, who works closely with businesses and the SA Police Service, said while rolling blackouts posed a threat to many businesses, cable theft had fast become the leading cause of power outages in the Springs area and other parts of Ekurhuleni.
“I still work closely with the police to monitor such trends that pose a threat to business, and cable theft is a massive problem. All these cases have impacted businesses, affecting production and essentially affecting profits.
“When the power goes off, big factories running big machinery, like a paper factory, they can’t get back into production for about 20 hours sometimes. That is the time it takes just to get those machines back up again.
“This causes a loss in production. On top of that, companies must now spend thousands of rand on generators. That is a loss of money.”
He said the electricity problems in the area had been coming for years.
In 2000 one of the biggest substations supplying electricity mostly to businesses exploded due to overloading, leaving factories without power for 70 days. This translated to a massive loss in production and led to a big tap manufacturing business shutting its doors and letting go of its workforce.
“About 150 to 200 people lost their jobs. There are smaller businesses too that have had to close shops and perhaps they are less visible than the big companies, but they contribute to the local economy,” he said.
Chairperson of the Germiston Business Forum Heidi Searle said they had lost a lot of businesses.
“Germiston is becoming a ghost town and it is because of the power outages. It’s an increasing concern for us,” Searle said, adding that extended and unplanned power cuts had significant impact on the functioning of programmed machines working in a factory environment.
“These impacts can range from machine downtime to product quality issues and increased costs. When power cuts occur, machines that are programmed to run continuously will stop working. This means that the production process will be interrupted, and there will be a delay in the output of finished goods,” she said.
This is the situation confronting newly elected mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana who raised the Tembisa township electricity crisis. The township has been hit by a number of electricity protests.
“We know Tembisa is facing a lot of issues such as electricity and billing system. We'll come to them and listen and see how we can resolve their issues. We want to avoid these things of being far from residents because once there’s a gap, that’s when problems start,” Ngodwana said.
On Tuesday, the municipality announced load reduction in parts of Tembisa after the township went dark due to a power interruption caused by two faulty transformers
A department of water, sanitation and energy oversight committee’s report tabled in council recently noted: “It was further stressed that cable theft and continuous load-shedding resulted in this over-expenditure. The department stressed that the city’s electrical network consists of distribution equipment varying in age and because of that, the effect of ongoing load-shedding on older equipment leads to breakdown of equipment and forced unplanned interruption in electricity supply.”
Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the breakdown of equipment, cables and theft was affecting all nine energy depots and cut across all wards.
“We have more than 50 intake substations from where other primary substations and secondary substations are fed. We are required to perform more maintenance and repairs in all nine depots — Alberton, Benoni, Boksburg, Brakpan, Edenvale, Germiston, Kempton Park, Springs and Tembisa,” he said.
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