Mystery Cape Town power outage: City points finger at Eskom after suburbs plunge into darkness - IOL
Large parts of Cape Town were without elecriticity without notice.
The cause of a widespread power outage which left several areas across Cape Town in darkness on Monday evening is still unknown - but the City says it was not at fault.
Areas including Table View, Parklands, Goodwood, Kraaifontein, Brackenfell, Plattekloof, N1, Edgemead, Table View, Big Bay, Elsies River, and Durbanville fell into sudden darkness from 6pm.
The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Smith, said the affected areas were both Eskom- and City-supplied.
“It is unclear what the cause of the outage is and Eskom is investigating this, but the City can say with certainty that all of the City infrastructure is in service and working and that all City areas were restored by 11pm, on September 26. This appears to indicate the cause of the fault was not on the City’s side,” Smith said.
According to Smith, the City conducts regular planned maintenance across the metro and the biggest cause of constant outages is not infrastructure-related, but damage that causes power supply interruptions due to theft, vandalism and illegal connections.
“The City takes upkeep and reliability of its electricity infrastructure seriously. We are investing R6 billion through our medium-term capital investment programme to strengthen the electricity distribution network across the city,” Smith said.
She said the biggest cause of infrastructure failure and power outages in some areas is ongoing electricity infrastructure theft, vandalism, and illegal connections.
“Residents are urged to help us protect their power by reporting electricity infrastructure vandalism and theft to us and the South African Police Service (SAPS) immediately as they see it happen. To help deter criminal elements, we are hardening our power grid infrastructure, including welding works, protective concrete barriers and caging, among others, but the success of these interventions isn’t guaranteed,” Smith said.
IOL reached out to Eskom for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Smith said the City’s maintenance and repair of streetlight infrastructure remains a key service delivery priority.
In the current financial year, the City has allocated R75.5 million towards the upgrade and expansion of its streetlight network.
“The City is responsible for maintaining a network of more than 245,000 streetlights and strives to sustain burn rates at around a 90% target as far as possible. While maintenance and upgrade work continues in communities across Cape Town, the City faces ongoing challenges from vandalism, cable theft, and illegal electricity connections, all of which damage critical infrastructure and can leave residents, pedestrians, and motorists without adequate lighting. To address these challenges, the City continues to implement innovative measures to protect public infrastructure and improve service reliability,” Smith said.
She also called on residents to support these efforts by reporting any suspicious or unlawful activity affecting municipal infrastructure.
