Seventh pylon collapse sparks blackout across Nelson Mandela Bay as metro needs R35m upgrade

In less than two years, Nelson Mandela Bay suffered its seventh high-voltage electricity transmission pylon collapse on Tuesday. The latest failure on the Summerstrand-Arlington 132kV line caused major power outages that affect close to half of Gqeberha – with more than R35-million needed to upgrade the entire line.

The Chelsea-Summerstrand-Arlington line was flagged as being compromised for a second time in 2025 after four towers fell in 2024, prompting a full assessment that revealed extensive rust and structural weakness across the line.

A decade ago, the network on the Summerstrand-Arlington line showed progressive structural degradation and operational fragility due to ageing infrastructure, environmental exposure and legacy equipment that has exceeded its intended service life.

This deterioration has led to three previous major incidents that underscore the urgency and necessity of the required upgrades.

Assessment reports of the Chelsea-Summerstrand-Arlington, Bloemendal-Greenbushes and Chatty-Rowallan Park line, included in the electricity and energy committee agenda for this Friday, reveal that many pylons are at risk of collapse.

The reports state that extensive structural corrosion poses serious risks, including weakened load-bearing members, reduced wind-loading tolerance, compromised conductor clearances and the potential for tower collapse during extreme weather.

The financial implications of repairing the damaged 132kV double-lattice pylons and replacing them with six new monopoles on the Bloemendal-Greenbushes and Chatty-Rowallan Park lines are estimated at R9‑million. This estimated figure covers the full scope of work required to restore the transmission network’s integrity and reliability.

For the Chelsea-Summerstrand-Arlington line, the report notes that corrosion on the pylons has made maintenance in effect impossible, as the structures are too unstable to safely service.

“During restoration, the electricity and energy directorate was forced to implement load reduction strategies and temporary power rerouting to stabilise supply to the rest of the municipality. This incident significantly disrupted both academic and business activities, which demonstrated the vulnerability of the city's transmission system when reliant on outdated steel lattice structures in corrosive coastal conditions,” reads the report prepared by the metro’s technical manager for metering, Clinton Barkes.

Barkes emphasised that this incident demonstrates the critical need for immediate infrastructure renewal through the proposed Chelsea-Summerstrand project to prevent recurrence and restore network integrity.

“In mid-2016, the electricity directorate identified advanced corrosion affecting a number of structural members along sections of the Chelsea-Summerstrand-Arlington overhead lines. The corrosion was most severe on older lattice steel structures (approximately three structures) exposed to coastal conditions for extended periods.”

In the same year, the metro initiated the installation of monopoles to replace the corroded towers under an existing and active contract, a move which improved the corrosion resistance, enhanced structural strength and reduced maintenance requirements.

While this intervention reduced immediate risk in selected sections, the broader refurbishment programme could not be completed before the contract expired in 2018.

“Following the expiry of the contract, no further work could proceed despite the availability of budgetary provision, as municipal procurement regulations require a valid contract to be in place before project implementation can continue. This interruption resulted in portions of the lines remaining in a degraded condition and requiring ongoing monitoring and risk management,” Barkes said in the report.

Despite visible rust and corrosion on the pylons, the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality attributed the January incident on the Betheldsdorp-Greenbushes line largely to vandalism and windy conditions.

The city’s spokesperson, Sithembiso Soyaya, previously denied – on record – the existence of an assessment report on the pylons, which was confirmed by acting executive director for electricity Bernhardt Lamour, his predecessor Tholi Biyela, who has since resigned, and today by politics head of the department Ziyanda Mnqokoyi.

Mnqokoyi said contractors were on site and they estimated the timeframes to restore electricity in the affected areas were 10 days.

“We conducted an assessment of the pylons in January. We knew the pylons should be prioritised. We requested a budget for the work because the report indicated that they are at risk of falling anytime. We had a meeting with Lamour on Monday to look where we can find the funding because, as things stand, there’s no money for the upgrades,” said Mnqokoyi.

“We know the scope of the work. In fact, an assessment had been done before this one so this is not a new thing.”

Mnqokoyi said they were going to use the already-installed monopoles to string up the overhead line, which will assist in expediting electricity restoration.

“We assure residents that the pylons are our priority, but we require R35-million. If we can get the funds from other directorates, we can start the project of replacing the old towers and conclude it within the new financial year.

Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen said the chamber was alarmed that yet another protracted power outage has occurred in the metro.

“This once again highlights the critical impact of the lack of adequate and routine maintenance of the metro’s electricity infrastructure over many years, and the very serious consequences it has on the lives of communities and the continuity of business operations.”

Van Huyssteen said commercial businesses and those serving the hospitality sector were the most impacted, including institutions serving the vulnerable such as old age homes and other care facilities and residents.

She said after the previous tower collapses, little progress has been made on promises and commitments made more than two years ago that the reconstruction of these facilities and maintenance would be performed on other electricity structures to avoid another prolonged power outage.

“The chamber has repeatedly been urging for the 132kV maintenance contracts and others to be renewed, and 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 technical assistance to be provided through their active partnering initiative to be brought on board to assist in addressing critical electricity infrastructure issues.”

Van Huyssteen said the costs to businesses come in lost sales, cancelled bookings, delays in meeting orders and reputational damage to the metro as an investment destination.

ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom submitted a notice of motion on 12 February asking pertinent questions related to maintenance plans and budget allocation to upgrade the towers.

“The ACDP reminds the public and the media that, just a month ago, a similar electricity failure left half of the city without power for five days, causing severe disruption to households and local businesses,” he said.

“In response, we submitted a motion raising serious questions about the maintenance and refurbishment of high-voltage transmission lines and pylons, the absence of a standing maintenance contract and the inspection records, budget allocation for this infrastructure, and the use of emergency deviations instead of proper long-term planning.”

Grootboom said Tuesday’s incident highlights that the issues raised in February remain unresolved and was therefore calling on the municipality to provide urgent answers regarding the cause of the latest collapse, the expected restoration timeframe and the measures being implemented to prevent further infrastructure failures.”

DA MPL and the metro’s mayoral candidate, Retief Odendaal, wrote to the electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, on the same day informing him about the incident and how it affects the city.

“The municipality has known for an extended period that the line is compromised and that the lattice pylons need to be replaced, as they have reached the end of their design life. This is particularly the case for those pylons closest to the sea, which have experienced significant corrosion and have become severely compromised.”

He indicated that he also wrote to the city last month urging that funds be set aside for the refurbishment or replacement of the pylons, which was not done when the the midterm adjustment budget was adopted last week.

“It is imperative that the municipality has a sustainable electricity supply, given the fact that it is a major manufacturing hub in the Eastern Cape and that its manufacturing industry is highly electricity reliant,” wrote Odendaal.

“We now call upon you to intervene in this matter and to provide the municipality with the necessary advice, assistance or directives in respect of ensuring that the line is not further compromised due to a lack of maintenance, refurbishment and/or budget.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Odendaal said the city has no choice but to secure the entire line.

“It's the fourth time that the line has broken in three different places. I got confirmation today that the entire line is compromised and we already knew this because there’s a report on this. They must move budget from non-urgent projects that are grant funded towards this line. There are other pylons that are in a worse condition, which compromises the city.”

Freedom Front Plus councillor Bill Harington said the incident highlights the fragile state of critical infrastructure in the city.

“The party previously warned the ANC-led municipal government that ageing and poorly maintained electricity infrastructure poses a serious risk to the stability of power supply in the metro. Only about a month ago, three pylons on the same transmission corridor had to be replaced after structural weaknesses were identified. This should have been a clear warning sign that urgent and comprehensive maintenance was required to prevent a larger failure.” DM