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Power in the Johannesburg CBD is close to being restored after a devastating underground fire that started on Monday. City Power officially only commenced restoration work on Wednesday after the site was handed by Emergency Management Services (EMS) but hit a snag on Thursday evening when an underground sewage pipe burst. 

Joburg Water has been informed to attend to the sewerage, and City Power has been put work on hold until the tunnel has been cleared. 

This further delays our operation which was extended by the mop up taking longer than anticipated. 

“It is unfortunate that the situation has been compounded by this burst pipe that is further delaying restoration of critical services to inner city customers,” MMC for Environment Infrastructure and Service Delivery (EISD) Cllr Michael Sun said.

“But I remain confident power will be restored this weekend and the important work of getting to the bottom of the cause of this disaster will also proceed with haste.”

Unfortunately, tragedy struck City Power again during clean up and restoration efforts when two security guards were gunned down after transporting burnt out copper cabling away from the disaster site.

The two armed security officers contracted to City Power, were patrolling some of the cable theft hotspots around Newtown when they were ambushed by an unknown number of men at around 22h00 on Thursday. 

The security officers had just completed a task of escorting a City Power truck transporting tons and tons of the burned copper cables from Inner-city underground tunnels fire to the utility's Salvage Yard at the head office in Booysens. 

In the midst of inspecting a well known entry point to the Johannesburg city’s underground tunnels, the duo was gunned down and robbed of one of their service firearms.

"We condemn this senseless killing of our security officials. We appeal to the law enforcement agencies to hunt the killers and ensure justice is done," MMC Sun said. 

The murders follow an armed robbery at the Cynda substation on Wednesday when criminals held up City Power contracted security guards at gunpoint and stole 12 copper cables from the high voltage yard. 

MMC Sun implores the South African National Police Service (SAPS) and national department of Police to prioritise investigations into this before any more robberies and murder are committed.

"Cable theft is a serious crime against the State, and economic sabotage which should be dealt with without fear. We are not going to relent in our fight against this scourge,” MMC Sun said.

“The latest killing goes to show how brazen and dangerous the cable thieves have become, and asserts our believe that this is an organized crime committed not by just an ordinary person, but by heavily armed gangs, equipped with cars and other resources". 

Issued by City of Joburg  MMC Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Michael Sun