City Power blames forum for setting substation alight

A BUSINESS forum in the north of Joburg, which is demanding government contracts, has been accused of gutting a City Power substation, leaving sections of Alexandra without electricity for five days.

The Joburg Region E Business Forum, however, has rejected the claim, saying power outages were common in the region.

In a statement at the weekend, environment and infrastructure services MMC Nico de Jager said the section of Alexandra had been without power since Wednesday.

“This was due to a fire allegedly set by the Region E Business Forum at a City Power substation after the forum demanded that a limited percentage of all SMME work be assigned to them in Region E and then threatening and preventing City Power employees from entering the depot to restore power,” he said.

De Jager said numerous cases had been opened against the forum but, to date, no arrests had been made. The South African Municipal Workers Union also said its members would not return to the depot until their safety was guaranteed.

“I will be meeting with power role-players (today), after which the Joburg metro police department will escort employees to the depot to restore power safely,” De Jager said.

“Vandalising infrastructure and intimidating employees is a criminal offence and these actions by the Region E Business Forum must be condemned.”

He urged police to investigate all the charges against the forum “and ensure that individuals who hamper service delivery and threaten the safety of City Power employees through criminal activities are held to account”.

Forum deputy chairperson Bongani Sibisi denied the allegation, calling the metro to engage the forum for context. “The forum did not set the substation on fire,” he said. He said the forum’s biggest gripe with City Power was that emerging businesspeople in the area were not being allowed to do business with the entity. They had complained that the entity in the region only subcontracted people from outside the region, starving local businesses, Sibisi said.

“Most subcontractors are foreigners here and even the people they hire are not from areas in the region. We have met with councillors in the region to explain our plight and they have promised to raise it in a council meeting.”

He said power boxes were frequently getting damaged because the substation could not meet the demand.