Lack of maintenance highlighted by electricity and water outages in Nelson Mandela Bay

The current power and water outage crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay highlights the critical impact of the lack of adequate maintenance of the metro’s electricity and water infrastructure over many years, and the impact it has on the lives of communities and business operations.

The collapse of two major 132kV electricity transmission towers on the Greenbushes-Bethelsdorp line from Chatty has left large swathes of the metro without electricity and water for days on end.

The current situation is reminiscent of August 2024 when high voltage transmission towers on the Chelsea-Summerstrand-Arlington line collapsed in gale-force winds, plunging businesses and residents in Summerstrand, Walmer and surrounding areas into darkness for more than a week.

The root cause then was identified as weakness of the pylon structures due to rust and corrosion, and the same issue was again behind a prolonged supply disruption from the same site in May last year.

And yet, little progress seems to have been made on promises and commitments made nearly two years ago of reconstruction of these facilities and that maintenance would be performed on other pylons and transmission towers around Nelson Mandela Bay to avoid another prolonged power outage.

The chamber has repeatedly been urging for the 132kV maintenance contracts, as well as others, to be renewed and alongside this has warned of the high risks associated with not maintaining and securing key and critical municipal infrastructure.

We have also repeatedly flagged the need for Eskom through its Active Partnering initiative to be brought on board to assist in addressing critical electricity infrastructure issues.

That strident wake-up call seems not to have been heeded.

The costs to consumers and business add up.

For businesses, in lost sales, cancelled bookings, delays in meeting orders, reputational damage.

For both business and residents there are costs such as spoiled perishables, damaged appliances, implementing backup plans (buying gas, generators and fuel, dry ice, water), replacing batteries (eg for alarms, gate motors, magnetic locks) damaged by prolonged power loss and increased frustration levels at ongoing poor municipal service delivery.

Equally concerning, this has harmed the reputation of the Bay as an investment destination with existing investors reviewing their operations and whether its feasible to operate under such unfavourable conditions.

Lives are put at risk, especially the most vulnerable — infants, the elderly and the infirm — particularly those dependent on oxygen supplies and other life-sustaining or assistive devices reliant on electricity.

Dark streets and non-working security systems further put lives and property at risk.

While the municipality referenced vandalism together with gale-force winds as the cause of the towers collapsing, we also need honesty about the fact that lack of maintenance, together with lack of security of critical infrastructure, are also major contributing factors.

According to statements from the municipality, thefts of bolts and steel components had weakened the towers, and high winds were the last straw.

But the question is — could this situation have been avoided?

The business chamber has repeatedly, over many years, urged the municipality to step up security measures around critical infrastructure such as electrical substations and water and sewage pump stations.

The security of the Chatty substation and its transmission towers, the main entry point for electricity from Eskom into the metro and thus a highly vulnerable point, have long been a major concern, requiring improved physical security measures as well as CCTV surveillance and monitoring.

Yet, if thieves were able to enter the premises to steal nuts and bolts from those key transmission towers, clearly little has been done.

What is clear, is that there is inadequate protection of key municipal assets — including substations, water and sanitation pump stations, which are vital public assets.

Vandalism comes at a high cost to the public purse, funded by tax and ratepayers, impacting on immediate service delivery as well as the longer-term ability of municipalities to build much-needed new infrastructure.

The SA Local Government Association estimated that municipalities across the country spent R1.6bn in one year to repair or replace infrastructure damaged due to vandalism and theft.

In Johannesburg alone, City Power estimated the cost of infrastructure vandalism at R65m in just six months, excluding the costs of lost revenue to the city and the costs incurred by customers.

The entity spends R100m a year to secure substations against vandalism and theft.

Due to its impact on the economy and basic service delivery, vandalism and theft of critical infrastructure is classified as a serious crime, with possible sentences of up to 30 years’ imprisonment.

It is really pleasing to see courts countrywide in recent years taking these severe impacts into account and handing down punitive sentences upwards of 10 years for this crime.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) achieved a conviction rate in local courts for vandalism of essential infrastructure exceeding its 74% target last year, with the Gqeberha courts contributing more than 50% of convictions in the province.

However, the NPA has also stated that greater multi-stakeholder co-operation, increased reporting and follow-ups will strengthen its hand.

Increasing the numbers of arrests and successful prosecutions, with appropriately severe sentences, must serve as a deterrent — and this relies on law enforcement authorities co-operating, to enforce national legislation and local by-laws, arrest culprits and gather sufficient evidence.

Coupled with this, it is imperative the metro becomes more effective in inspecting scrapyards and second-hand dealers, enforce the law, issue fines and/or pursue prosecution of those that are noncompliant.

As commodity prices rise, along with global shortages particularly of copper, vandalism to steal saleable metals has to be made a much less attractive crime option.

Whichever way you want to look it, we are not out of the woods.

While load-shedding may have eased off over the last year, unplanned power outages have become a major issue.

It is time to heed the long-running wakeup calls — implement a comprehensive maintenance plan, renew vital maintenance contracts, ensure effective spending of municipal infrastructure budgets available to conduct regular preventative maintenance, put robust security measures and CCTV monitoring in place, and enforce the law, to protect our vital infrastructure that serves business and communities.

The time has come to be transparent and take accountability about the root causes of the issues, and most of all to take action to retain and attract much-needed investment and employment for our metro.