No light at the end of CBD tunnel
Businesses close after power failure
A Johannesburg resident had to find temporary accommodation after a major power outage hit the city centre a week ago.
“It’s been a week since I left my place; I had to find a temporary place in Brixton. I spend more on transport now because it’s far as compared to my place in town. I even use Uber because I knock off quite late‚” said Chriselda Kekana.
“I don’t have family around where I can just rock up and sleep. This is such an inconvenience‚” said Kekana‚ who stays on Pritchard Street.
Large sections of the inner city were plunged into darkness on Sunday last week, owing to a fire in an underground tunnel caused by cable theft. Some shops have closed their doors for the time being, while others are operating with loud generators.
A property management agent told TimesLIVE that the outage has frustrated residents in the buildings he works in.
“Some people don’t even go to work. Most of them had to find other places to go stay in. People are unhappy; there is no water plus electricity for a long time‚” said Mike Josiah.
“I don’t have water but at least I don’t travel to work, so I still work. Nothing is being communicated with us. We don’t know when things will get back to normal,” he said.
Parts of the CBD have been without electricity for more than a week and yesterday residents took to social media to vent their frustration. Increased traffic‚ theft‚ long queues at ATMs and rotten food are some of the challenges residents and businesses have had to deal with.
City Power yesterday morning said power was expected to be restored yesterday or this morning.
“The ... tunnel in which our teams work is 9km in length and is narrow, making it difficult for our technicians to work in,” said City Power spokesman Sol Masolo.