Joburg CBD outage: City Power says battling vandalism, flooded tunnels
Marshalltown residents have complained they spent Christmas Day and New Year's Day in the dark and continue to be without power.
A City Power employee. Picture: Rejoice Ndlovu/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - City Power says it's battling rampant vandalism and flooded tunnels from a distributor that supplies power to areas in and around Johannesburg CBD.
Marshalltown residents have complained they spent Christmas Day and New Year's Day in the dark and continue to be without power.
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The outage has also affected the water supply in some of the buildings, as the pumps that bring water into residents' taps need electricity to run.
City Power said on Monday its test branch team cleared some of the water only for the tunnels to be filled again when it rained.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says on New Year’s Day, officials visited the affected distributor on Fox Street but found pools of water blocking the tunnels and vandals living inside.
"Since the outage occurred, the team has been battling with flooded tunnels and also vandals that are staying in those tunnels who have been threatening our teams when they go down there."
Mangena said their teams have been working tirelessly to drain the water, which is at knee level, so they can begin working to restore power.
"It's been consistent work of really trying to drain this water, only for the tunnels to be flooded again shortly thereafter due to this persistent rainfall.”
The entity said not much work could be done in these conditions but assured its customers that it was working to solve the problem.