Eskom says up to 80% of the electricity supply has been restored to Bishop Lavis, Cravenby, Elsies River, Uitsig and surrounding suburbs. The area has been experiencing 12-hour power cuts since last Friday, due to what Eskom described as a “severely damaged and complex fault”. A full restoration of electricity was due to be completed at 9 pm on Wednesday but, due to the severity of the fault, this deadline was not met.
The power utility says it is actively working to restore supply to the remaining 20% of customers in some sections of Elsies River and Cravenby who are still following the load rotation schedule.
“Residents are urged to switch off and unplug their appliances when they do not have electricity supply. This enables Eskom to restore the electricity supply with less strain on the network when supply is restored.”
Eskom added that ongoing theft and vandalism in the Matroosfontein area have led to a loss of power in some parts. Technicians have been deployed on-site in Matroosfontein to conduct repairs. At the same time, other teams are focused on restoring supply to sections of Elsies River and Cravenby still on the load rotation schedule.
Residents voice concerns over power cuts
Earlier this week, disgruntled residents took to the streets in protest against the pro-longed power cuts. Images and videos shared on social media showed residents burning tires in the street to voice their anger.
Following the protests, the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Comittee Member for Energy, Beverly Van Reenen asked residents to refrain from threats and intimidation against City staff and also Eskom teams trying to resolve the massive outage. According to both the City and Eskom, the power outage is thought to be largely caused by vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructure.
“Eskom urges customers to report any criminal elements vandalizing or stealing Eskom infrastructure. The Eskom Security Control Room, operational 24/7, can be reached at 021 915 2504 (landline) or 064 948 8690 (cellphone) to report crime-related incidents.”
