Centurion residents protest over prolonged power outages
Residents in Centurion have taken to the streets after going nearly two weeks without electricity.
On Sunday night, residents barricaded an intersection with burning tyres accusing the City of Tshwane of dumping them in the dark and forcing them to start fires to provide light.
On Monday, the protest continued on the R55 Road.
"Gauteng Traffic police and other authorities are dealing with a protest action on the R55 near Sasol garage in Centurion. Residents have blockaded the road with burning tires and rocks", said Gauteng Traffic spokesperson Obed Sibasa.
"Motorists are advised to avoid the R55 between Centurion and Woodmead and use alternative routes, fortunately, the R101 is not affected and motorists are advised to take advantage of heavy traffic police presence monitoring and hope the road will be reopened soon for traffic to start flowing."
It's now been 12 days since the fire at the Brakfontein substation - and there's no indication when all the areas will be fully restored.
In a statement published on their social media, Tshwane said there was a new challenge, when cables were stolen, while the power was off - leaving parts of the Reeds and Heuweloord still powerless.
In its latest update on the repair work, the City said five of the eight panels on the Southern Board have passed the rigorous equipment tests that have been conducted as part of the commissioning process.
"This process is meant to ensure that all components function correctly and safely before the system is operationalised. The team is now attending to the three panels that failed the tests in order to address the faults on the network", said City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.
"Unfortunately, the team is unable to energise the five panels that are ready as work is continuing on the other three panels, meaning the entire network must be off during repairs. Simultaneously, the team is faced with challenges of theft on the network which is complicating the restoration efforts."
He said power had been restored to some of the areas while repair work continues on the stream network before other residents could be switched back on.
The next update will be at 6 pm on Monday.
