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.

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