Parts of Western Seaboard battle with several days-long power outages

Residents across Ward 107, which covers Sandown, Parklands and parts of Table View, were forced to endure up to three days without power over the weekend as a result of electricity tripping at a faulty substation in the area.

Also read: Attack on Eskom technicians leaves Khayelitsha families without electricity for a month

While the electricity supply was finally restored on Tuesday, 27 February, Eskom spokesperson Kyle Cookson told TygerBurger that the cause of the fault was still being investigated.

This raised questions about the effectiveness of current strategies and the commitment of Eskom to address the root causes of this ongoing crisis.

‘While occasional outages may be expected, the frequency and prolonged nature of recent disruptions point to deeper systemic issues that demand urgent attention,’ the publication quoted resident Gavin Hill as saying.

‘Aging infrastructure, inadequate maintenance and insufficient investment in renewable energy sources have all contributed to the vulnerability of our power grid.’

The areas affected fall within the domain of Eskom Direct, which means the City of Cape Town has no influence on its electricity supply.

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The three-day power outage is not the first for Ward 107, with several faulty substation-induced incidents having occurred in February alone.

A large power outage in the Parklands area was reported on the morning of 7 February. At 2:40pm, a Facebook update revealed that the cause belonged to ‘a blown substation along Sandown Road’.

On 11 February, another large-scale power outage occurred and left residents without electricity for days, this time due to multiple, separate failures.

‘Following the last week’s power failure affecting a large area of Parklands, we are now experiencing further outages across the area,’ the Facebook post reported on 12 February.

‘These are multiple, separate failures; one yesterday which has been off for around 30 hours and two more today including reports earlier of a loud bang which we assume was a mini-substation and a new failure at the end of loadshedding.’

The post added that the ward had received ‘zero communication from Eskom or reports of Eskom teams in the area’.

Also read: Cape Town makes over R25m in Cash for Power payments

A few days later, on 16 February, the ward received communication from local Eskom management to a resident that said there was a faulty mini-substation in the area that needed to be replaced.

However, the new one did not fit where the faulty mini substation was placed so various adaptations were required. At the time, no restoration time could be provided.

Local councillor Jonathan Mills, who was approached by TygerBurger, said his role as City councillor had been limited to trying to find information to share with the residents.

It was through him that residents learned that Eskom technicians were on site to fix the latest issue on Friday, 23 February.

According to a Facebook update, the issue was the result of three breakers that tripped in succession.

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Commenting on the ongoing power crisis in Ward 107, Mills told the publication that the issues seem to be infrastructure related and get more severe as loadshedding reaches higher stages.

‘The recent stage 6 and stage 4 blackouts put more strain on the local infrastructure than it could bear,’ said Mills.

As per the publication, residents took their concerns to social media during this latest incident and raised their voices in collective frustration, pointing to the broader implications these power interruptions have on their lives.

From the spoilage of perishable goods to concerns about their safety and well-being, the impact is far-reaching and demands urgent attention from both local authorities and power providers.

‘The power was on for about ten minutes over the weekend and then it was off again. Blows my mind that this keeps happening. Surely Parklands should get a period of exemption from the loadshedding until they can sort all of this out?’ a resident said via Facebook.

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Picture: Ward 107 – City of Cape Town / Facebook

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