Fire at Soweto Substation Affects 9 Townships Including Dobsonville, Emndeni, Zola and Others

• A substation in Soweto caught fire, and it affected nine townships, which were plunged into darkness
• Townships including Dobsonville, Emndeni, Mofolo North, Tladi, Naledi, Zola and Zondi were affected by the ensuing blackout
• Eskom's spokesperson Daphne Mokoena spoke to Briefly News about the potential of future infrastructure failure
• Some South Africans believe the act was sabotage, while others were convinced that service delivery woes will continue because election season has passed

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered accidents, outbreaks, nature and natural disaster-related incidents at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for seven years.

JOHANNESBURG – Nine townships in Soweto in Johannesburg were left in the dark after a substation caught fire.

Eskom alerts Soweto residents of substation fire

@Eskom_SA posted a video of the fire at the substation. In the video, clouds of black smoke are seen billowing from the substation. According to Eskom's caption, the fire broke out at the Zola Substation. The fire affected Dobsonville, Jabulani, Miletsane, Emndeni, Zola, Tladi, Naledi and Zondi.

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Eskom has been working with the fire department to extinguish the flame so that the extent of the damage and the cause of the fire may be investigated. Eskom has no estimated time set for it to be fixed. View the video here:

Eskom speaks to Briefly News

Briefly News spoke to Daphne Mokoena, Eskom's spokesperson. She said the incident took place on 12 June.

"It should be noted that in some (about 5000 nationwide) of our networks, Eskom is currently experiencing overloading, which can lead to infrastructure damages, including transformer explosions. This will not only affect the electricity supply for customers connected to these networks, but it is also unsafe for public members, especially when transformers explode," she said.

Some South Africans believe it was sabotage

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Some on social media commented that the act may be an act of sabotage of Eskom's infrastructure.

Xolani Ngcobo said:

"This is a deliberate act because you don't want to bring loadshedding back."

Veteran said:

"The Sabotage is continuing. Soshanguve people don't pay electricity. We don't have leadership in our country."

QSu2 said:

"Acts of sabotage! We are now fully aware of what is happening in this country."

Others believed it was poor maintenance

Mellow Miles said:

"You can't just focus on power plants. When last did you assess that infrastructure?"

Mpho said:

"It's going to take them seven years to fix this because everything in South Africa is slow."

Boyzin said:

"Another 12 months without electricity. They will only speed up the investigation and fix it because it affects Jabulani Mall and the hospital."

Lightning causes fire at Pretoria substation

In a similar article, Briefly News reported that lightning struck a substation in Pretoria and set it on fire.

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The fire almost damaged the Rooiwal Power Station, which has not been operating for over 10 years.

Source: Briefly News