Nelson Mandela Bay’s ‘temporary’ electricity connections now permanent hazards for residents

In Lorraine, a temporary electricity connection lies dangerously close to murky rainwater in an open trench where the warning tape has long since disappeared.

It’s one of hundreds of temporary repairs across the metro that have remained in place far longer than intended, leaving residents to navigate dangerous excavations and recurring power outages.

A report presented to Nelson Mandela Bay councillors reveals why the problem is worsening. Due to a shortage of artisans, many electricity faults are repaired temporarily as each of the existing staff members can only permanently repair six faults out of the 20 that are reported daily, which adds to the growing backlog.

Cyclists and joggers are now forced to change their routes to avoid the trenches, some of them on the roads or pavements, where the plastic tape to barricade the holes has long been blown away by winds.

Ward councillors from across the metro have warned that temporary electricity connections are putting residents at risk, with open trenches filling with rainwater leading to lasting electricity outages.

A report by the City’s deputy director for distribution in the North and Motherwell depots, Jose Smith, attributes the causes of the cable faults to third party damages and decaying infrastructure.

Main cause of cable faults

“Cables are occasionally damaged by contractors working on waterworks, fibre installations and road construction operating in the areas. These incidents often go unreported and the damaged areas are simply covered. When moisture enters the compromised cables, especially during rainfall, it leads to cable failure and subsequent (electricity) outages,” said Smith in the report.

“Additionally, much of the existing cable infrastructure exceeds the recommended lifespan of 30 years, contributing to frequent faults.”

Councillors say some trenches, including those dug across residents’ driveways, have remained open for more than a year, with little communication from the metro about when permanent repairs will be completed.

In some areas, the delays to permanently repair cable faults have resulted in overgrown grass covering the holes, with incidents of people falling into them being reported.

Cause of delays in permanent repairs

Smith’s report details several issues that have contributed to the delays, including high fault volume versus limited capacity.

“On average, 20 faults are reported daily. A single artisan can complete a maximum of six permanent repairs per day. The remaining faults are addressed with temporary connections. While the priority remains restoring supply to customers promptly, the limited number of qualified staff makes it increasingly difficult to reduce the growing backlog of temporary connections.”

Fleet challenges also contribute to the delays as vehicle repair contracts are not in place, resulting in prolonged downtime for platform and crane trucks. These vehicles cannot undergo Certificate of Compliance inspections or load testing, rendering them unlicensed and unroadworthy, states the report.

The report also highlighted safety concerns in crime hotspots, where artisans are sometimes reluctant to attend to faults.

“Certain areas within the northern areas pose safety risks to both staff and contractors. Security escort services are limited, further complicating service delivery,” reads the report.

“The North Depot currently relies on one main contractor for underground cable repairs. Due to the high volume of work, the contractor is unable to complete jobs within the required timeframes, resulting in an excessive number of temporary connections.

Stock and material availability has hampered efforts to eradicate the temporary connections.

It is essential that stock and material levels at stores are consistently maintained. Shortages of any critical items result in delays in project completion.

“Material availability remains a significant challenge. While some items are currently in stock, delivery of Alca P Sticks, which are essential for completing cable joints, is still pending.”

DA councillor Ondela Kepe said the North Depot, which services 28 wards – nearly 30% of the metro’s wards – was understaffed and under-resourced.

“The staff in that depot are under tremendous strain and they are not supported. We had a discussion about how to unbundle the work that goes to that depot. There was a response which seems to suggest that other depots were approached, but they refused and that was it.

“To me this shows a lack of leadership; the committee took a resolution on this but officials refuse to implement it.

“We can hire artisans and specialised vehicles to do the work, but the reality is that the number of wards the depot is responsible to cover, and looking at how geographically large some of those wards are, the artisans will never reach all the areas to deal with the faults.”

Kepe said he was aware that two subcontractors had been appointed to assist with the eradication of temporary connections, but no one knew where and when they actually did the work.

ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said some temporary connections now had to be referred to as the final connections as they had been there for more than a year.

“I want to ask the professionals here if they have ever seen a temporary connection where there’s a hole filled with water covering the underground electricity cable, with masking tape attached to a table frame?

“In my street they don’t take me seriously any more as a councillor because there’s an electricity cable that hangs about 1.3km from one house to another, and I have complained about this but the City just won’t repair it permanently.

“These huge holes that have been dug up are on people’s driveways and have been open for months. I just feel like there’s no political will to do this work. You keep blaming third-party damages, but some of the issues are caused by our own contractors who do a bad job.”

DA ward 8 councillor Gustav Rautenbach took the Daily Maverick around his ward to show how dangerous the temporary connections are.

“I’ve one temporary connection that’s been there for over a year now, the cables which are exposed to water are a real problem and have become the cause of more power outages. It seems as though there’s some dodgy elements that are at play here, but I don’t want to speculate,” he said.

ANC councillor Bulelani Matenjwa said that in ward 19 there was a substation that caught fire, and “when I got to the scene I saw temporary connections that run to the station.

“The incident shows the seriousness we need to be dealing with this issue of temporary connections. We don’t have enough testers – if the City relies only on one vehicle to cover the whole metro then delays will be experienced.

“Can you please, MMC (member of mayoral committee), find a way to deal with these temporary connections because once someone’s life is endangered, it will create more problems for the City.”

DA councillor Jason Grobbelaar said the majority of the electricity network in ward 40 was above ground, and the biggest issue they faced was cable theft.

“When repaired, it is first on a temporary basis due to the long loss control process that must be followed when such theft occurs; the loss control process can take many months to get to the reinstatement. “

Grobbelaar said property owners were required to register a criminal case, obtain a ward councillor’s letter, complete an affidavit and submit the documents to the electricity department before repairs could proceed.

He said cable theft occurred at least twice per week, and the hotspot areas were around the Draaifontein Road and Greenbushes areas.

“The criminals have become very clever by causing deliberate short circuits on the line with makeshift tools, and then they steal copper cables. This is co-ordinated theft, it’s not to get electricity at home, they steal to enrich themselves. A clear pattern shows it is consistently between midnight and 4am.

“I have raised this directly with the police at our Community Policing Forum meeting and shared the information with residents, but these criminals are still not caught. But it’s only a matter of time,” said Grobbelaar.

Mitigation plan

Responding to the councillors’ concerns, MMC for Electricity and Energy Ziyanda Mnqokoyi said 256 temporary connections had been made permanent from September 2025 to May 2026 out of the total outstanding 960.

“The different depots need to provide a report of how many outstanding temporary connections and the budget required to make them permanent.”

Acting Executive Director for Electricity and Energy, Noluvuyo Mbangata, said the number of remaining temporary connections as stated by Mnqokoyi had actually increased after the floods experienced earlier this year.

“Regarding the budget, the directorate has allocated R18-million from the Urban Settlement Development Grant to resolve cable faults including temporary connections. We are also awaiting additional funding that relates to the disaster; we have already submitted the application.

“We will commence the work to ensure that each depot has three service providers, which will help fast-track the work.”

To address the backlog, Smith said in the report that a new approach had been introduced to optimise the management of temporary connections whereby clusters have been engaged to submit their lists of temporary connections across all 28 wards serviced by the North Depot. DM