Power Outage in Pretoria Affects 95,000 Customers: Eskom Working to Restore Electricity

Power Outage in Pretoria Affects 95,000 Customers: Eskom Working to Restore Electricity

  • 95,000 Eskom customers in areas across Pretoria experienced a power outage, and the utility is working to fix it
  • The areas include Hammanskraal West, Hans Kekana, Mashimong, Sekampaneng, Dilopye, GaMotla and Eersterus, amongst others
  • Eskom's spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, told Briefly News what caused the outage
  • South Africans believed that this may be sabotage and shared their thoughts on the sudden outage

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News's current affairs journalist, offered coverage of current affairs like loadshedding, fuel prices and environmental affairs during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

Different sections of Pretoria experienced a sudden power outage, affecting 95,000 customers
Mzansi was disappointed after parts of Pretoria went dark. Images: Aninka Bongers-Sutherland and Fizkes. Images are used for illustrative purposes only.
Source: Getty Images

PRETORIA – Residents of parts of Pretoria enjoying more than two weeks of a loadshedding-free South Africa were plunged into darkness after the lights unexpectedly went out, affecting almost 100,000 customers.

Power outage affects 95,000 people

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SABC News said the power outage affected Mathibestad, Eersterus, Majaneng, Temba, Rens, Hammanskraal West, Dilopye, Makapanstad, Sekampaneng, and others. 95,000 customers were affected by the power outage, and the utility company said it is working hard to restore electricity to the affected areas.

Eskom spokesperson speaks to Briefly News

Speaking to Briefly News, Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said the power outage happened at 8 pm on 15 April.

"At around 8 pm yesterday, one of our 132KV line conductors and four insulators were damaged, and the voltage transformer explosion at one of the substations affected 95,000 customers. Our technicians worked throughout the night, and the voltage transformer was replaced. We are still repairing the conductor and insulators," she said.

South Africans weigh in

Netizens on Facebook shared various views on the sudden outage, which disrupted more than two weeks of no loadshedding in the country.

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Che Guevara said:

"Eskom is the senior bother of the Electricity Company of Ghana. They are both joined at the hip in unreliable power supply."

Alfa Al Mashaba said:

"First it was Tembisa, and now this. ANC thinks that we are stupid."

Luxolo Angelo Luux Solomon said:

"Criminal enterprise Eskom will never recover from its mess."

BK Rsa said:

"I blame ANC. It could be sabotage."

Red Heart joked:

"They must take their time. Even weeks if needed."

Shadrak Mohambi Zwayi said:

"Woza 29 May, we will vote out this incompetent government. They are useless and arrogant."

Fikile Mbalula claims sabotage causes loadshedding

Similarly, Briefly News reported that the African National Congress's secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, said sabotage causes loadshedding.

He called on the state to increase security at power stations and was confident that the opposition parties were sabotaging Eskom.

Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Tebogo Mokwena avatar

Tebogo Mokwena (Current Affairs editor) Tebogo Mokwena is a Current Affairs Editor at Briefly News. He has a Diploma in Journalism from ALISON. He joined Daily Sun, where he worked for 4 years covering politics, crime, entertainment, current affairs, policy, governance and art. He was also a sub-editor and journalist for Capricorn Post before joining Vutivi Business News in 2020, where he covered small business news policy and governance, analysis and profiles. He joined Briefly News in 2023. Tebogo passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative Email: tebogo.mokwena@briefly.co.za