Deadline shifted for Pretoria East power restoration

The city’s restoration efforts were dealt a blow when cables were stolen in the early hours of Monday morning, forcing it to shift the deadline. 

Spokesperson Selby Bokaba says 80 - 90% of the power will be restored by midnight.

 "We have made significant progress to try and restore power. I can safely say that today we have restored power to at least 40% of the consumers.

"We had hoped that we would have restored about 60% with the exception of Equestria and Silverlakes,” Bokaba told reporters at the Wapadrand substation.

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Residents who are supplied by the Wapadrand substation have been without power for almost a week.

Errol Harding, an elderly resident from Equestria, says being without power has been tough.

"There's 400 (units in the retirement village), we are struggling. It's been terrible. For a week we have had no hot water at least we have a standby generator which gives some power so that we can at least eat in our dining hall once a day.

"So for the rest of it, if we want to have a shower and we got to go to our kids,” he said. 

Community members have also come out in their numbers to show their gratitude to workers who have been working tirelessly to restore power.

A resident, who did not want to be named, said they have been handing out food since the power went off last Tuesday.