Eskom is facing a shortage of mini substations in Gauteng, utility says as nine workers were held hostage

Power utility Eskom says it is working on addressing a shortage of mini substations in Gauteng.

This comes after the community of Morula View, Mabopane, in the north of Tshwane, held nine Eskom employees hostage over the replacement of a mini substation in their area.

Eskom Gauteng spokesperson Amanda Qithi said the employees had been safely evacuated.

“We can confirm that the employees who were held hostage by the community of Morula View have been safely evacuated by law enforcement agencies. None of them have been injured,” Qithi said.

She said Eskom had been experiencing high incidents of equipment failure due to the network being overloaded through illegal connections, unauthorised operations, tampering and infrastructure vandalism.

“We are dealing with the challenge of a shortage of mini substations which has led to delays in the replacement of this equipment.

“Morula View is among the areas affected by the delays. We are working with manufacturers for a faster turnaround time so that we are able to replace the equipment and restore supply,” said Qithi.

Eskom condemned the hostage situation and urged the community to be patient and refrain from engaging in violent and criminal acts.

“We believe issues can be resolved without threatening lives of our employees.”

TimesLIVE