Watch: collapsed pylons in Tshwane subject to vandalism says mayor

Large parts of Tshwane were dumped in to the dark after power lines connecting the Njala substation to Waltloo collapsed onto the N4 highway on Sunday evening.

The City of Tshwane took to social media to say the incident blocked off traffic between Solomon Mahlangu and Simon Vermooten off-ramps.

Speaking to Jacaranda FM’s Breakfast with Martin Bester, Brink said the collapse caused widespread damage.

“It is very difficult because it is syndicates, it is an entire criminal onslaught on electricity infrastructure and obviously it is not the only the City of Tshwane that is affected but also Eskom and other municipalities.

“At this early stage it would seem as if there was interference, vandalism or attempted theft of stripping of metals on three of the seven pylons that collapsed but it is too soon to say that that is exactly the proximate course it seems to be at this stage.”

Brink added that he wants to conduct a thorough investigation to see what exactly happened and implement the use of technology for inspections of the pylons.

“What I want to do at this stage is to have a proper investigation to see what exactly happened, what was the state of those pylons the last time they were inspected but it is clear that there was criminal interference.

“The way forward would simply be to improve cooperation with the South African Police, I think we would have to start using technology, we will have to use drones to inspect these lines but there are going to be gaps because the criminals are incredibly sophisticated in many instances, it is difficult to give an assurance that this war is one because it is definitely not.”

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