Noordgesig, Pennyville protest may delay outage repairs: City Power

The City of Johannesburg says it has been “working tirelessly” since Wednesday night to restore power to Noordgesig and Pennyville but warns this may be delayed by protests.

Residents barricaded roads in on Thursday, causing disruptions to traffic. 

Videos emerged showing the protests, which affected the Soweto Highway and the N17, with burning tyres and rubble. In one post, angry residents are seen throwing what appears to be rubbish onto the highway, forcing traffic to a standstill.

City Power said the outage was due to overhead lines that snapped because of “overloading on the network. While the teams are at work with repairs to restore supply, we appeal to customers to avoid overloading the network through illegal connections which are rife in these areas.

“Residents are urged to use electricity sparingly during peak hours, particularly as temperatures drop. The power utility advises that customers unplug appliances during the outage to prevent inrush current which might lead to a further trip when supply is restored.

“The utility teams are committed to ensuring supply is restored to affected customers, including the houses that have had an outage for a few days.”

City Power appealed for calm, saying the chaos on the roads made it difficult for trucks carrying material needed for repairs to reach their destination.

While City Power “acknowledges the right of the community to protest, if it is done in a manner that threatens the safety of its employees, services will be withdrawn from the area. Operations will only continue when the city’s energy supplier deems the area safe for its employees.”

TimesLIVE