Security was increased at Nelson Mandela Bay's Chatty substation in late August 2025 after reports of attempted sabotage at the crucial electricity facility. (Photo: Supplied / Facebook) 
Security at an electricity substation in Nelson Mandela Bay was beefed up after reports of attempted sabotage there on Tuesday morning.
During a service delivery protest along the R75 in Kwadwesi, a group of protesters broke away from the road, approached the Chatty substation, more than 100m from the arterial road, and set fire to bushes and debris along the perimeter fence.
Officials from the electricity department said that had power been disrupted at the crucial substation, the entire Gqeberha, Kariega and Coega Special Economic Zone would have been plunged into darkness.
This incident came less than a day after power was restored to a large portion of the city following damage to an electricity cable over the weekend that blacked out five wards, including Gqeberha’s central business hub.
Read More: Cable thieves or sabotage — Gqeberha left in the dark again
The metro’s acting executive director of electricity and energy, Tholi Biyela, confirmed that he gave instructions for security measures to be increased at the Chatty substation following Tuesday’s protest action.
“We received reports of the incident at the crucial substation, and we have taken steps to improve security at the site,” said Biyela.
“We cannot say with certainty that this was a blatant attempt at sabotage, but the matter will be investigated.”
Asked if there has been any progress in the investigation into the weekend power outage, Biyela said the matter was ongoing.
The incident began at about 3.30am on Sunday, when electricity officials were notified that a power line between the Ditchling and Mount Road substations had been severed, but the backup line prevented electricity disruptions.
However, 30 minutes later, a notification came through that the backup line was out of commission, and the Mount Road substation, which feeds a significant portion of the city, was offline.
The outage was traced to a nondescript power box in Buxton Avenue, where about a metre of oil-insulated copper cable, worth no more than R100, had been expertly cut.
Besides the power outage across North End, South End, Kensington, Central, Mount Road, Walmer, the harbour area and parts of Newton Park, residents of the metro were unable to feed their prepaid electricity metres as all facilities selling electricity were rendered offline.
“Backup solutions can assist with short-term continuity, but the scale and complexity of the prepaid electricity system mean that alternative energy sources cannot fully replace direct access to the national grid,” said municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya.
“For this reason, the municipality prioritises system resilience, rapid recovery and stronger partnerships with service providers to minimise downtime when outages occur.”
Soyaya said long-term goals were to explore new technology that would reduce the grid’s vulnerability and downtime during outages.
“Uninterrupted electricity access will always be the backbone of business continuity for prepaid systems.
“We call on residents to remain vigilant against acts of vandalism and theft, which are a major cause of electricity supply interruptions across the metro,” said Soyaya.
Quick work
Nelson Mandela Bay’s MMC for electricity and engineering, Ziyanda Mnqokoyi, commended municipal teams for their quick work to reconnect the severed cable on Monday.
“Initial reports indicated that the affected areas could have been without power for close to a week. Luckily, our teams were able to fix the line within two days.
“They managed to mitigate the impact, but we cannot deny that the power outage caused major disruptions to residents and businesses operating in the area. We still don’t really know the broader impact of the outage,” said Mnqokoyi.
She said a criminal case had not yet been opened as an internal investigation to establish whether the incident was simple cable theft or deliberate sabotage was still ongoing.
“Copper theft and infrastructure vandalism are not new, so we cannot immediately jump to conclusions that this incident was deliberate sabotage.
“That being said, it is clear that the lines were cut by someone who knows and understands the grid. Where the lines were cut and the delay between the two lines being cut all indicate it was someone with knowledge of the system.
“But it is still too early to implicate anyone specifically. The investigation must run its course,” said the MMC.
Soyaya voiced similar sentiments, cautioning against “unverified assumptions of sabotage” and “drawing conclusions without evidence”.
DA mayoral candidate Retief Odendaal was also of the opinion that those behind the weekend’s outage were familiar with the city’s infrastructure.
“I do believe there is more than meets the eye, but without proof we can only speculate.
“I just find it coincidental that all of this is happening while there are ongoing disputes and pressure from labour unions about scarce skills, overtime and disciplinary action against municipal employees.”
Odendaal said the city’s management was responsible for ensuring a satisfactory work environment for its employees, but it could never allow threats from workers to dictate the actions of senior officials.
“It cannot become a case of the tail wagging the dog. There must be a fine balance, and without that, the residents of the city will suffer,” said Odendaal. DM