City Power technicians have discovered that 300m of copper cable had been cut and stolen in the Johannesburg tunnels, where the underground fire broke out last week.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said this criminal act proved that the cable tampering was the cause of the underground fire.
The fire caused power outages in Parktown, Newtown, Braamfontein, the Johannesburg CBD and surrounding areas. The power supply is yet to be restored in some of these areas.
Acts of vandalism are to blame
“Acts of vandalism that took place last week caused a fire that destroyed the entity’s network that runs through the tunnels,” Mangena claimed.
“The team has been busy since yesterday [Sunday], removing the fragments of cement slab that cracked and peeled off due to the heat from the flames, along with burnt cables and other forms of debris that have piled up on the surface of the 1.2km-long tunnel.”
He said clearing the rubble in the tunnels where the blaze destroyed City Power’s electricity infrastructure would continue on Monday morning.
Last Wednesday, an underground fire occurred on the M1 north highway near Smit Street and the double-decker section due to acts of cable theft and vandalism.
Race to restore power supply
The City of Johannesburg’s firefighters managed to extinguish the fire by Friday before handing over the site to City Power’s technicians.
Mangena said the entity would inform affected residents when it would restore power supply after it had completed the clearing of the rubble in the tunnels.
According to Mangena, there are no alternative methods available to provide supply to the affected residents, as the city does not have the capacity of generators to power all the affected suburbs.
City Power, Mangena said, would advise residents on how long it could possibly take to restore power supply after the rubble removal process is complete.
