Residents in many parts of Johannesburg began the week with yet another power failure. Auckland Park, Melville, Fordsburg, Selby, Parktown, Lenasia, Eldorado Park, Sophiatown, Claremont and Northcliff were some of the suburbs without power, according to a City Power call centre employee.
A statement from City Power said Monday’s failure was caused by an overloaded transformer at the Fordsburg transmission substation. Power was restored by about 8.30am
The overloaded transformer was one of two that had remained working when a third failed last Wednesday.
Traffic department spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said the power failures and traffic light blackouts had caused congestion on busy roads like Louis Botha Avenue, Barry Hertzog, Empire Road, Jan Smuts Avenue and the Golden Highway.
All officers on duty were deployed to busy intersections with only a few held back to deal with emergencies, Minnaar said.
”We try to get them to the busy intersections but otherwise motorists must treat the robots as a four way stop,” Minnaar said.
Last week City Power vice-president Silas Zimu said the power failures were due to ageing systems battling to cope with the rapid pace of development, the traditional winter overloading and electricity cable thieves. He said that R400-million had been allocated to City Power to continue with upgrades, which he expected to be complete in 2007. – Sapa