By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Large parts of Tshwane have been left without power after power lines connecting the Njala substation to Waltloo collapsed onto the N4 highway on Sunday evening.
The initial assessment indicates that at least six powerline structures have collapsed and are badly damaged.
The City of Tshwane took to social media to say the incident blocked off traffic between Solomon Mahlangu and Simon Vermooten off-ramps.
According to Pro Med EMS, the powerline collapse caused chaos on the highway and multiple collisions.
“The energy and electricity team has done a preliminary assessment on the incident and found that at least six powerline structures (tours) have collapsed and are badly damaged,” said the City of Tshwane.
“Due to the bad weather, the team will reconvene in the morning to perform a further assessment and map the way forward including re-opening the N4 highway.
They added: “The following high voltage substations will remain off: Pumulani, Pyramid, Koedoespoort, Waltloo, Mamelodi 1-3, Heartherley, Mooikloof, Wapadrand.”
A local councillor warned residents to prepare for a protracted outage.
Tshwane mayor, Cilliers Brink says there is a possibility that criminal vandalism is to blame for the collapse of powerlines on the N4.
“I have been informed by councillors that there have been several attempts over a period of time to steal the metal that forms part of the pylon structure, there possibility that this is in fact what happened last night,” said Brink.
“There is a very strong possibility that this is because of criminal vandalism – the extent of the problem is enormous.”
Meanwhile, as the Easter long weekend draws to a close, struggling state-owned entity Eskom has provided a load shedding outlook.
Eskom interim spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said load shedding will resume later on Monday.
“Load shedding will continue to be suspended until 5pm today (previously communicated 4pm). Thereafter, stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 5pm today until 5am on Monday.
“Load shedding will then be suspended again from 5am until 4pm on Monday.
Eskom will provide an update on Monday afternoon or as soon as any significant changes occur,” Mokwena said.