Some of the people on-site worked for more than 24 hours without sleeping, turning around a project which should have taken 72 hours, in just 30 hours.
Johannesburg Water advised residents on Monday that a City Power substation caught fire in Eikenhof resulting in power outages and water disruptions. The outage affected the Eikenhoff Pump station and caused a water supply disruption in large parts of Johannesburg.
All the areas getting direct supply from Rand water were heavily impacted by this incident.
Johannesburg Water immediately jumped into action and placed water tankers at strategic areas like clinics , schools, municipal offices, police stations and libraries. City Power technicians were also quickly dispatched to start assessments and repairs.
And even though hundreds and thousands of residents were caught in a dire situation, they also took the time to realise that there were so many people working tirelessly to restore the power and water in just 30 hours after a huge catastrophe.
An open letter which was first apparently published in the Citizen was also shared with Good Things Guy, and we think that having a perspective like this, is so important when “the lights go out”.
“When the lights go out, it is natural to get angry with “The System”, be it Eskom at a national level or City Power when it comes to Johannesburg.
And when a power outage is accompanied by collateral damage, including the failure of water pumping systems, the rage becomes palpable.
Yet before people start cursing those working for municipal institutions, take a moment to consider how quickly, and well, they responded when called upon to go above and beyond the call of duty this week in the wake of an explosion and fire that wrecked a critical electrical transformer at Rand Water.
Some of the people on-site worked for more than 24 hours without sleeping, turning around a project which should have taken 72 hours, in just 30 hours.
They weren’t thinking about overtime either… they were thinking about their fellow citizens.
That sort of commitment is rare in modern-day South Africa, where people are all too ready to criticise and blame, but very slow to roll up their sleeves to help.
So the guys who seldom get anything but criticism, we would like to say, simply: thanks. You’ve earned that beer.”
The Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Councillor Herman Mashaba, visited the Eikenhof substation yesterday (Wednesday) following the fire which broke out on Monday and which may have been the result of a deliberate act of sabotage.
“A video has emerged which proves that the fire had originated outside the transformer at the substation. Further to this, the transformer appeared to have been maliciously damaged so that it would leak oil onto the fire. These facts are simply not consistent with a fire originating from an electrical fault.
Evidence of this can be seen here. I have requested that City Power immediately refer this matter to the City’s Group Forensics and Investigation Services (GFIS) and the South African Police Services for further investigation.
This administration stands for the rule of law and for ensuring that all our infrastructure is effectively utilised for the benefit our residents. We therefore cannot allow criminals to visit wanton acts of crime on City infrastructure.” – Mayor Herman Mashaba
Mayor Mashaba is inspecting the damage done by the fire at the substation as well as observe repairs which have been affected by City Power technicians on the site.
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