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