Mayor Herman Mashaba Addresses Joburg Power Problems on a Sunday Morning

While the ANC were celebrating their 105th birthday down the road at Orlando Stadium in Soweto this morning, the Mayor of Johannesburg – Herman Mashaba from the DA – spent his Sunday morning addressing concerned residents gathered outside an electricity substation in Roosevelt Park.

Power had been off since Saturday midnight, as well as for several hours during the past week.

According to renowned South African writer Gus Silber it’s a perpetual problem since the substation is over 50 years old.

Thanks to the power of social media, what was meant to be a small group turned into a large gathering that spilled over onto Beyers Naude… with one man holding up a sign that read “Ons Soek Nie Kak Nie, Ons Soek Krag” (We’re not looking for ‘kak’, we’re looking for power.)

Mashaba inspected the substation with City Power officials and Councillors before addressing the residents. He apparently listened to and answered hard-hitting questions with politeness and a determination to solve the problems. He explained some of the challenges his office has inherited – which include ageing infrastructure and a shortage of requisite skills at City Power – and promised urgent action.

Once he had answered all concerns, Silber says that the Mayor then said he had to leave the suburb “to visit other aggrieved communities… some of which have never had electricity at all.”

But first, Silber says “he paused to shake hands, pose for photographs, and stoop to chat with a couple of small children who had been brought along for the outing. Power to the People, please, and thank you.”

Many Gauteng residents have been complaining on social media that their properties lose power every time there’s a big storm. Gauteng and Mpumulanga were both hit hard this weekend with heavy rains which have been thankfully filling the Vaal Dam, and caused flooding in the Kruger National Park and tragedy on the roads.

In Parkhurst approximately 119 mm was recorded in 30 hours. Radio and TV personality Melanie Walker shot this video of the Braamfontein Spruit yesterday, fuller than its been for decades.

Watch Braamfontein Spruit after the Downpour in Joburg, Gauteng

Video by Melanie Walker.