Nelson Mandela Bay came dangerously close to a citywide blackout this week when a fire broke out outside the Chatty substation, the metro’s main feed-in point from Eskom.
Had the fire spread to the facility, nearly the entire city, save for Coega, could have been plunged into darkness.
The fact that security guards now patrol the site underscores a sobering truth which is that our infrastructure is vulnerable to those who thrive on anarchy.
This is not an isolated incident.
At the weekend, parts of Gqeberha were left without power for three days after vandals stripped an electricity kiosk in Buxton Avenue, cutting pipes and spilling oil.
The city has not ruled out sabotage for the widespread outage.
It’s no secret that the municipal leadership is at loggerheads with workers over the implementation of a cap on overtime payments; it also scrapped scarce skills allowances.
This means that many workers walked away with a lot less money on payday.
The directive by acting city manager Ted Pillay to deploy armed security to high-risk sites is a necessary, if costly, stopgap measure.
But the city will have to get a handle on the brewing discontent among workers, or else they will continuously find themselves trying to put out fires.
And it is the residents of the city who will be hit the hardest.
The metro’s long-term survival depends on securing and rewiring its ageing, fault-ridden network.
Mayor Babalwa Lobishe said the overhaul of the city’s electricity network would cost about R1bn.
“We are looking to source these funds by all means possible,” Lobishe said on Tuesday.
“I had an engagement with the minister for electricity last week after he saw the protests.
“He has committed to assist us in looking at better means of rewiring the network so that if a substation shuts down, it doesn’t result in widespread outages.”
Equally urgent is the stabilisation of the electricity directorate itself.
The disputes have threatened to paralyse the department when it should be functioning with military precision.
Workers and management must resolve their differences through proper channels. To allow dysfunction to persist is to hand saboteurs an open invitation.
The Herald
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.