10 Joburg suburbs without power after 'vandal' electrocuted

Four Johannesburg substations lost power on Tuesday morning after a man was electrocuted at an electricity tower.

According to City Power, the 27-year-old man was electrocuted at a tower in Hopefield, near Ennerdale, south of Johannesburg.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said about 10 suburbs were affected by the outage.

“It is believed the deceased was killed when he tried to climb the 88kV electricity tower. It is not clear why he climbed up but vandalism, which is rife in the area, is suspected,” said Mangena.

He said four City Power substations had lost power as a result of the incident.

“The electrocution also led to a extensive damage on some of the equipments including the 88kV red phase jumper on Eskom side.”

The substations and areas affected are:

• Hopefield substation - Lawley 1 and 2;
• Ennerdale substation - Ext 1-14;
• Lunar substation - Migson Manor, Finetown, Mountain View; and
• Lenasia South substation - Ext 1-4, Daxina Hospital, Joburg Water reservoir.

Mangena said technicians from Eskom and City Power were on site to investigate and do repairs, adding that repairs to all affected substations has been delayed as police were at the scene investigating the matter,

“It is still not clear how long it will take for repairs to be done and power restored. We will communicate to the residents as and when information becomes available. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to the residents,” he said.