Mayor van Niekerk and officials unpack what happened when the 4 pylons collapsed, field questions from the media and give time frames as to when normal power supply will resume. See: The Best and Worse Case Projections to Full Resumption of Power to Summerstrand, Walmer etc. for more on when the power will be back on.
Related: Post Your Offers of Assistance During This Power Cut HERE
After the briefing the Municipality released this statement:
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is hard at work implementing mitigation measures that will help reduce electricity outages across areas affected by recent electricity outages caused by gale force winds that are plaguing the Metro.
A 10MVA transformer is being relocated from Kwaford Substation to South End substation to restore a significant portion of the affected areas. The target date for completing this relocation is 27 August 2024.
The load initially connected to Kwaford Substation has been transferred to Matomela Substation. This transfer will allow the transformer to be disconnected from Kwaford Substation on 24 August 2024.
After the transformer is connected at South End substation, a load-reduction schedule will be implemented to ensure that all customers have equitable power supply as well to to prevent the transformer from being overloaded by electricity demand.
We sincerely regret the considerable inconvenience this incident has caused to all residents and stakeholders. We kindly ask for your patience and understanding as our team continues to work tirelessly to restore power to the affected areas.
Transcript form the media briefing video above:
0:07
thank you very much Mr SOA uh I don’t think we’ve got a PA system that’s can
0:14
that’s a bit problematic um so I’ll speak up so that everybody can hear hear
0:21
me at the back um I know my my MMC over
0:26
here she’s um just returned back to work she’s got a um a health issue with the with her
0:33
throat so um if you can’t hear her then the Ed will cover for
0:40
her um yes welcome uh Deputy executive mayor um let me just read the statement
0:48
um after I’ve read the statement I’ll then try and hand over to the to the MMC
0:54
and then um the Ed will the acting Ed will take some questions as
1:02
well the Nela Bay municipality electricity network is facing significant disruptions due to the
1:09
collapse of 4 132 KV overhead transmission towers so
1:17
it’s 4132 4 132 KV overhead transmission towers
1:24
these towers form part of the network from Chelsea substation
1:31
Supply which applies power to Arlington substation and summer strand substation
1:36
through Shar double circuit steel lest structures on the 21st of August
1:45
2024 gale force winds led to the collapse of these structures which had
1:51
already been compromised by rust and were scheduled for
1:58
reconstruction Within this financial year the wards affected include Wards 1
2:06
two three and four and the areas directly affected by the power outages
2:13
include summer strand EP command Fest steel humud Southend Arlington lav Park
2:24
marar Parry Park Providentia scon marker scope
2:30
warmer warmer location warmer industrial
2:35
and other surrounding areas like I said the cause of this was
2:43
the gale force Wings which you experienced on the 21st of August 2024
2:48
which then led to the collapse of the four double circuit steel L structures however it’s important to
2:54
note that these structures were already identifi as vulnerable due to significant rust and corrosion likely
3:02
accelerated by the proximity to the Sea and exposure to corrosive Salt Air these
3:11
sections have been marked as critical for reconstruction as said earlier in this financial year
3:17
2024 2025 um MMC you want to you want to take
3:24
a chance yes I’ll take a chance and greetings to members of the media um all
3:31
right let’s move closer greetings to members of the media
3:36
greetings executive May dep mayor and the officials currently here and
3:41
greetings to my colleagues the council is present um it’s unfortunate that we
3:47
meet under these circumstances um however uh emergency
3:53
response was then required from us as a direct church for electricity and energy
4:00
within the Metro so we then met and we came up with mitigation measures amongst
4:07
those number one would have been to prioritize the airport the restoration
4:13
of the airport um our South End fire station where we are currently gathered
4:19
and also that would be our humid po station because we would regard those as
4:26
um those key um facilities that put us assist our
4:31
residents among those we will then have a Transformer relocation then Ed will
4:38
delve more into the process in which we follow in terms of relocating the
4:45
Transformer um and the area to which it will then be relegated to um the
4:51
Transformer as I understand will then be able to assist the residents and the
4:56
businesses and to restore electricity to the affected areas amongst the other mitigation
5:05
factors there we have involved key stakeholders those would be our
5:10
emergency contractors our service providers that we call upon in such
5:17
situations and also we’ve called upon escom who has been willing to assist us
5:23
and they’ve already started with an assessment so work is currently being
5:28
done we you’ve heard the cries of the M Mandela residents and we are currently
5:35
on top of things um amongst escom they’ve done an assessment we will be
5:40
meeting with them again later as we continuously meet to go ahead and look
5:46
at what we can bring forward to experti the restoration to Residents and to
5:52
business we are treating this as a disaster as a directorate and as a
5:58
municipality as this is unfortunate was unexpected and however through
6:04
maintenance we had been planning to go ahead and maintain their infrastructure
6:09
within this Current financial year however due to natural causes we find
6:15
ourselves in this situation the Gil forments that we’ve had they’ve also had
6:22
a contributing factor to the collapse and so an assessment has been done we’ve
6:28
got an overhead Construction within the Metro which is currently on the ground and we’ve got them on site
6:36
and do work around the clock and um the side preparation as well however they
6:41
need I’ll hand over to you to go ahead and you know outline in more detail as
6:49
to the work that’s been done thank you so much thank you very much uh executive
6:54
mayor thank you very much MMC my name is Bernard CL
7:00
uh acting executive director at electricity and energy
7:06
um the overall background has been laid out but I just wanted
7:11
to say to the residents of the Nelson Mandela B municipality that we are doing
7:18
everything everything that we can yes the planned maintenance was
7:24
already there planned for this thing but one can already see that it’s just the
7:30
climate change that is actually hitting us at uh this climate change if we
7:36
forget for a moment about the pylons one can even see even the N2 on the on the
7:43
on the seaside that the tide is very high so we
7:49
have these mitigation plans that MMC has alluded to to say in house we have the
7:56
emergency contractor that we have and we have the team that that is working on the overhead line H if we look at that
8:04
capacity that we have as a as as a municipality and we make this preliminary assessment then we found out
8:11
that it will take us approximately 14 days to actually get the supply back on
8:18
but then this 13 this 14 days we are saying it is it is just too much that is why then we embarked further than to say
8:26
over and above what we have what else can we do that’s where the Transformer comes in this
8:31
Transformer is coming from cord it is not in any way negating or leaving the
8:37
presidence at cord in the dark it’s just the the the
8:43
medication plan that seeks to to to advance or to mitigate or to lessen the
8:49
impact of the of the 14 days we believe then that when we install it then we
8:55
will be able to supply some of the loads that we can actually pick up and I must
9:00
emphasize then then then to say it is also part of what we have brought back
9:06
as early as yesterday which is the critical load that is our airport the fire station humud police station and
9:13
then that Transformer will also go to add a little bit of of of of of a relief
9:19
in terms of the residence that is that one then the other mitigation that we
9:24
embarking on that is where now we went outside spread our wings as com is on the ground
9:29
we started as early as yesterday engaging with the with the escom with the preliminary discussions today we
9:36
agree that they will be onite today they onite they are finalizing their inspections as we speak and we are going
9:43
to reconvene again to finaly whatever the find is that they are going to find what would be the cost
9:50
that would be coming out of there then furthermore
9:56
we we have the the third Al fourth alternative which is then to look for is
10:02
there a way perhaps that we can utilize if possible the use of the generators
10:09
for an example and these generators we are still in the preliminary
10:15
discussions with that we are going to reconvene as well with with myself and
10:21
and the team and the supplier just to find out if at all possible that can also help um I don’t know if there is
10:28
anything that I’ve left but I would like to say to the residents of the Metro
10:33
please bear with us this is just an emergency it just happened at unexpected
10:39
time yes the structures are Ro are rusted and everything but we were ready
10:45
to actually do our maintenance then but it’s just then that it happens because of the gust winds that we have thank you
10:53
very much thank you yes just from my side
11:01
um I’d like to plead with it with the residents um I know it’s frustrating to
11:08
be without electricity um normally uh during load shaing we
11:14
were it was 2 hours now we have and we know uh bad it was for those two hours
11:21
and now you have an extended period without electricity so we we’d like to apologize to the residents uh for the
11:28
income convenience scores um but uh like Mr try just said um if you look um at
11:37
the the N2 for example just other side John Talon Drive
11:44
um normally this only happens once in a couple of years that um we we get this
11:51
Waters rushing over uh the N2 and the the rocks and so forth but um now it’s
11:58
happened in the space of 30 days it happened twice already um the the winds that we’ve been
12:05
experiencing over the last two days is also out of the ordinary uh people refer
12:11
to the city as the windy city um but uh it’s actually a scientific fact that uh
12:18
this Metro this city uh Kaba is actually the least windy city coastal city in on
12:26
the South African Coastline um that is a a scientific fact as well but we’ve got
12:33
the tag of being the the the wiic city uh but we like to refer to ourselves as
12:40
the friendly City I think what we’re going to do now there’s no other comments do you anything from your
12:46
side uh what we’re going to questions we’ll open the floor for questions from
12:51
the media if there are any um if you ask me there’s supposed to be none because
12:56
we covered everything but I see one hand I think what we’re going to do now is we’re going to give
13:03
two three four hands Mr I think you can direct thank you colleagues um we
13:09
appreciate um you introduce yourself your media house and then you post your questions we’ll take three at a
13:26
time more than one question but um I’m hoping just to get clarity firstly on
13:32
the state of those Pyon Towers I mean were there any and I’m just trying to
13:38
figure out were you hoping that they won’t fall or did you test them and then the wind came and the wind was too
13:44
strong because the minute you say the thing was rusted and oh but you were going to replace but I mean where how
13:50
did you time the replacement of those finals my first question then the second
13:55
one is uh will the water services be affected by this
14:01
outage um and then the third one is I’m assuming one should never assume but we
14:08
haven’t don’t have information on this but is the drift sence or the treatment works affected by this and what will be
14:14
the impact as well as for the including the the SE
14:20
pums afternoon The Herald I’m L cat from the first question I just want to know on
14:27
when was when was it actually established that uh there was something wrong with the with the penion when was
14:33
it 3 years ago then you decided that you
14:38
and and if that’s the case why did you decide you’re going to do it this year was it a financial thing last year or
14:44
the year before c from usam Africa um unfortunately May I’m not here for the
14:51
briefing I’m running with another story today so I I’ve had a conversation with regarding the talks that are currently
14:57
happening between the Democratic Alliance and thec provincially um on a
15:04
forming a union for the nas M Bay Metro so with that said it seems as though
15:10
your current position is on the line do you know about that did you know about
15:16
the talks have has anyone reached out to you regarding that um and what do you
15:22
have to say about that uh and also second part is that um the ANC says that
15:28
they are willing to continue working with you but just not as mayor so would you be willing to continue serving in
15:35
Council or being part of this
15:40
Coalition thank you colleagues if you could
15:47
um for the purpose of this particular PR briefing um focus on the agenda at hand and then
15:56
if there’s any other issues besides
16:02
um
16:09
interviews thank you
16:15
from I just want to know when were these
16:20
pylons or transmission were directed and also over the years what kind
16:26
of what kind of uh services is what kind of services have you been doing
16:32
uh you spoke of earlier on saying before
16:37
they I just want to know in fact before they collapse were there any plans to replace them or what kind of because the
16:44
infrastructure from time to time has to been uh serviced so looking at this before they collapsed what kind of
16:51
services have been have they been have been done before and also maybe when you
16:57
spoke of uh um them being
17:04
vulnerable and saying you were also going to include them at this financial year so what do you mean were you going
17:11
to replace them or you were also going to look what ised and then what is
17:25
rested I think it’s Mr T and Mr ttii that needs to answer yeah okay Coles can
17:31
we answer the first round of questions and then we’ll get to the next round um thank you thank you very much I’m not
17:38
good at capturing questions I might I might miss I might miss some but if I do
17:44
please please uh please bear with me I think the first question was with regard to the status the status of the of the
17:51
pons themselves um the pylons are L structure uh bi material and they
18:02
are subjected to weather conditions in this case we are talking about the
18:09
structures that are erected very close to the Sea so at the moment if I capture
18:15
the question correctly it status is this they have collapsed there are four of
18:21
them picture it in this way maybe it was two then when these two pylons fall then
18:27
they will tend to pull the other too so if you ask for the status they are
18:33
corroded all right and then this corrosion coupled with the gale force
18:40
that we have and then that then made the collapse so they have collapsed now if I
18:45
capture that question correctly I hope I hope I hope I do if I don’t then uh
18:51
please please bear with me the second question I didn’t capture it 100% I
18:56
actually lost it and then then the the other one would be water related would
19:02
be water related facilities that I’m going to give it to my Ed to to answer
19:08
for it I think we paring for the second one if we
19:16
can I think the plan the maintenance plan when did the
19:22
metalious anticipated toct that informs the budget for this
19:29
you want take
19:35
it no I just want to know when did you establish the damage the actual problem that you might need to work on this was
19:41
it last year the year before the that work or the the actual defects which we
19:47
identify through the inspection okay um good afternoon uh my name is to I’m the
19:54
acting sener director electric and energy uh for distribution f
19:59
so pretending in terms of the maintenance we have already identified um quite a number of defect not
20:06
necessarily on these specific lines um on other lines as well and on this
20:13
specific one I just want to read quickly the report this is a maintenance report plan for 2024 2025 which is highlighting
20:21
this line as one of the critical line so what we’ have done from our side you will see when you go inside there’s an
20:26
existing line which is double second structured line and parallel to that line there are monopol still still
20:33
monopol so meaning we already started working on the second line on side so when you go inside you’ll be able to see
20:40
that that is where our colleagues escom will try to FR trate and then work on that and then on the other side you will
20:46
see there’s an ash pole uh structures which are already erected um and then
20:51
this is where our contractors will be working on so we’ve already identified this defect and we’ve started working as
20:58
far as from the last Financial year so unfortunately now due to budget and also the the complexity of construction work
21:05
it cannot be completed within a very short period of time so hence then we’re asking escom to then ask um to complete
21:11
that section and then our contractor to be assisting in the other section and I think in terms of the the age of the
21:18
line it is it was constructed late 1970s so we are looking at 1978 so it is
21:26
more or less due for replacement okay um just before you my I just wanted
21:34
to qualify it because now I can understand the question I think I think I think he has
21:40
hit it on the head but sometimes this technical words are interpreted as Jon
21:48
to you may not necessarily send the correct message that we want to send yes
21:53
we have identified it on time that is why we started working on it already
21:58
actually the bypass we call it the bypass that bypass that we have built there is quite significant it’s quite
22:06
significant and it is actually helping with the current with the current
22:12
solution that we want to embark on other words we just going to extend a short piece of what we have already done yes
22:18
we have actually identified that one and we have worked on that is why it is in this year’s budget thank you
22:29
thank you very much um from a water and sanitation point of view
22:34
um um they is disruption only from a West Water point of view I think two of
22:41
our treatment works the dri sense as well as cap res are affected as we speak
22:49
um at cap Reser um there is no power we have got a generator only to to power
22:57
our Inlet works um so that we are able to screen and obviously put the you know um um the
23:05
West into the environment um what we have do from a
23:10
legislative point of view is to inform the department of water and sanitation who the licensing authority of this
23:18
incident um but again as part of stabilization and
23:23
continuation before full restoration we will be again looking into some of the
23:28
bigger generators with electricity Ure that you should be able to power the plant at drift
23:34
sense um which is again a West Water Treatment R um we have got a generator on site as
23:42
much as there’s no electricity it was being filled you should be able to start it up and the
23:49
operations continues without us from a water regulation point of view
23:55
um there is no um inst installation that has affected from a strategic point of
24:01
view almost of our installations SCH is is
24:06
functional and and most of all our treatment works has got power so the
24:12
water reticulation grade is stable and we continue to provide everyone with water in the city it might be with the
24:19
exception of you know private residents within the per urban areas that are off
24:25
the reticulation GD especially around Sardinia day that might be experiencing
24:31
water disruption because their pumps or anything is off but actually everybody
24:37
that is connected to the water ration Gade should be having water um within
24:43
the city but we continue to monitor the situation if there are any subsequent
24:48
failures obviously we react from there but for now we continue to to provide
24:55
fairly you know good water and sanitation services thank you okay any other
25:03
question any other
25:11
question I think I may be loud enough to speak everybody you can hear me um I’m
25:17
Alan from myp and I’ll keep my questions short so that you can follow them thank
25:24
you in in in this round of Maintenance how many more pons in the entire system
25:30
have been identified that need to be replaced that’s number one uh number two
25:35
is there significant vandalism and stealing of metal from any of the pylons
25:41
that’s number two number three would it be fair to say that the gale force wins
25:46
with the Tipping Point and not the cause for do you have an ETA on when
25:53
this Transformer from qua for will be operational and
26:00
five could you perhaps give us an indication in terms of your best and your worst case scenaria for the
26:07
resumption of electricity to the affected areas thank
26:15
you colle any last two then we close off the session
26:32
uh let me start with the worst case
26:38
scenario yeah the the worst case scenario is the
26:45
preliminary uh investigation or assessment that we have done as early as
26:51
yesterday that determined the 14 days um and and that was based uh with
27:00
our current capacity right now that on its own then
27:09
triggered this other alternative mitigation plans that we are
27:15
embarking on with all things being equal and assuming for a second then that
27:24
we take any of those mitigation
27:30
plans which is what we are doing particularly with the moving of the Transformer from qua
27:38
then whatever that worst case scenario of the 14 days that we have then will
27:44
will reduce yes these are just preliminary assessments that we have made it may not
27:51
necessarily be equal to what is going to happen on the ground
27:56
right um assuming then we execute all of these
28:03
Alternatives that we have then we are even taking even the far better reduced
28:09
impact of the 14 days that I want to turn it the worst
28:19
case um that qu Transformer is covered in the report but let me just
28:26
repeat then to say is part of our Alternatives that we are embarking on and it is going to help with whatever
28:33
that we currently have for an example the airport is back on South End fire station is back on then when we put that
28:40
Transformer there is going to help even in a greater deal then the mo the the
28:46
the removal of the trans the the Transformer has already been deenergized it is no longer energized now now the
28:53
removal of it from where it is to where we want it to be we set ourselves appr
28:59
prly 3 days so we are talking 27 days so the targeted time for R to carry load
29:06
which then will reduce the worst case scenario of the previous question is on the 27th assuming everything checks and
29:14
balances everything uh is okay um
29:30
vandalism U is another elephant in the room but for this problem area in
29:37
question uh that we have we didn’t really find that which that one can Pino
29:44
then to say there was vandalism U we were aware of the
29:50
problem and that’s why we acted on it but one
29:56
cannot hand % rule out vandalism but we didn’t quantify it or we didn’t find it
30:03
to be the root cause of the problem with the current problem that we have the
30:08
rest of the other question I’m going to give you to my colleague Mr it’s done
30:14
done I I think in terms of maybe responding to vandalism we have members
30:22
of structures which are vandalized on the very same line I think it goes in
30:28
terms of how the number of Def that have identified on the very same line but
30:33
specifically on the alington line we have identified a structure which has been um vandalized and it it forms part
30:41
of our uh plan to replace it and also the other defects which we’ve identified
30:48
and I think we we just need to indicate that um we we did not only identified only these four structures uh I think
30:55
you will see when you go inside we have quite a number of structures that are being erected currently still monopole
31:02
CU we want to move away completely from the existing line and build up a completely new line but it’s unfortunate
31:09
as we having this incident now we need to respond as quick as possible can I just ask one more
31:16
question I don’t need the microphone just want to make sure so when was the last time before this incident that your
31:25
team was out there at the fin what that was
31:31
that I can comfortably ask answer that because I’m still new I’m 4 months old
31:36
in this municipality so if I can answer that question means we we’ve been there
31:41
um like as early um as um I think two months ago where we verified uh the
31:49
inspection on this specific Landes and were you happy when you verified them
31:54
that they would last through August because we know August is the windy month okay H then in terms of our maintenance
32:01
plan we put it as the high priority because um specifically this section it
32:06
was yeah it was the high priority you were not happy well I wasn’t happy H then the beginning of financial year for
32:13
the municipal start in July so then the planning will be starting primarily in terms of the August of which we are
32:19
current in August and then September going for that is that is where we starting doing construction work for the
32:25
municipality yeah so it just happened coin it’s
32:35
unfortunate no I’m just going to ask for one on one for translations okay that’s my first question about how many
32:42
problem being shaking the system we have but this this
32:49
specific one were of like the high priority but we’ve identified quite a number of of um of structures which are
32:57
defected hence then I indicated that we we’ve erected quite a number of structures as well in parallel just to
33:03
address these issues but out of my head I cannot give you the the exact number but we’ve identified quite a few
33:09
difference of the
33:14
number okay colleagues that brings us to the end of our press bre
0:07
thank you very much Mr SOA uh I don’t think we’ve got a PA system that’s can
0:14
that’s a bit problematic um so I’ll speak up so that everybody can hear hear
0:21
me at the back um I know my my MMC over
0:26
here she’s um just returned back to work she’s got a um a health issue with the with her
0:33
throat so um if you can’t hear her then the Ed will cover for
0:40
her um yes welcome uh Deputy executive mayor um let me just read the statement
0:48
um after I’ve read the statement I’ll then try and hand over to the to the MMC
0:54
and then um the Ed will the acting Ed will take some questions as
1:02
well the Nela Bay municipality electricity network is facing significant disruptions due to the
1:09
collapse of 4 132 KV overhead transmission towers so
1:17
it’s 4132 4 132 KV overhead transmission towers
1:24
these towers form part of the network from Chelsea substation
1:31
Supply which applies power to Arlington substation and summer strand substation
1:36
through Shar double circuit steel lest structures on the 21st of August
1:45
2024 gale force winds led to the collapse of these structures which had
1:51
already been compromised by rust and were scheduled for
1:58
reconstruction Within this financial year the wards affected include Wards 1
2:06
two three and four and the areas directly affected by the power outages
2:13
include summer strand EP command Fest steel humud Southend Arlington lav Park
2:24
marar Parry Park Providentia scon marker scope
2:30
warmer warmer location warmer industrial
2:35
and other surrounding areas like I said the cause of this was
2:43
the gale force Wings which you experienced on the 21st of August 2024
2:48
which then led to the collapse of the four double circuit steel L structures however it’s important to
2:54
note that these structures were already identifi as vulnerable due to significant rust and corrosion likely
3:02
accelerated by the proximity to the Sea and exposure to corrosive Salt Air these
3:11
sections have been marked as critical for reconstruction as said earlier in this financial year
3:17
2024 2025 um MMC you want to you want to take
3:24
a chance yes I’ll take a chance and greetings to members of the media um all
3:31
right let’s move closer greetings to members of the media
3:36
greetings executive May dep mayor and the officials currently here and
3:41
greetings to my colleagues the council is present um it’s unfortunate that we
3:47
meet under these circumstances um however uh emergency
3:53
response was then required from us as a direct church for electricity and energy
4:00
within the Metro so we then met and we came up with mitigation measures amongst
4:07
those number one would have been to prioritize the airport the restoration
4:13
of the airport um our South End fire station where we are currently gathered
4:19
and also that would be our humid po station because we would regard those as
4:26
um those key um facilities that put us assist our
4:31
residents among those we will then have a Transformer relocation then Ed will
4:38
delve more into the process in which we follow in terms of relocating the
4:45
Transformer um and the area to which it will then be relegated to um the
4:51
Transformer as I understand will then be able to assist the residents and the
4:56
businesses and to restore electricity to the affected areas amongst the other mitigation
5:05
factors there we have involved key stakeholders those would be our
5:10
emergency contractors our service providers that we call upon in such
5:17
situations and also we’ve called upon escom who has been willing to assist us
5:23
and they’ve already started with an assessment so work is currently being
5:28
done we you’ve heard the cries of the M Mandela residents and we are currently
5:35
on top of things um amongst escom they’ve done an assessment we will be
5:40
meeting with them again later as we continuously meet to go ahead and look
5:46
at what we can bring forward to experti the restoration to Residents and to
5:52
business we are treating this as a disaster as a directorate and as a
5:58
municipality as this is unfortunate was unexpected and however through
6:04
maintenance we had been planning to go ahead and maintain their infrastructure
6:09
within this Current financial year however due to natural causes we find
6:15
ourselves in this situation the Gil forments that we’ve had they’ve also had
6:22
a contributing factor to the collapse and so an assessment has been done we’ve
6:28
got an overhead Construction within the Metro which is currently on the ground and we’ve got them on site
6:36
and do work around the clock and um the side preparation as well however they
6:41
need I’ll hand over to you to go ahead and you know outline in more detail as
6:49
to the work that’s been done thank you so much thank you very much uh executive
6:54
mayor thank you very much MMC my name is Bernard CL
7:00
uh acting executive director at electricity and energy
7:06
um the overall background has been laid out but I just wanted
7:11
to say to the residents of the Nelson Mandela B municipality that we are doing
7:18
everything everything that we can yes the planned maintenance was
7:24
already there planned for this thing but one can already see that it’s just the
7:30
climate change that is actually hitting us at uh this climate change if we
7:36
forget for a moment about the pylons one can even see even the N2 on the on the
7:43
on the seaside that the tide is very high so we
7:49
have these mitigation plans that MMC has alluded to to say in house we have the
7:56
emergency contractor that we have and we have the team that that is working on the overhead line H if we look at that
8:04
capacity that we have as a as as a municipality and we make this preliminary assessment then we found out
8:11
that it will take us approximately 14 days to actually get the supply back on
8:18
but then this 13 this 14 days we are saying it is it is just too much that is why then we embarked further than to say
8:26
over and above what we have what else can we do that’s where the Transformer comes in this
8:31
Transformer is coming from cord it is not in any way negating or leaving the
8:37
presidence at cord in the dark it’s just the the the
8:43
medication plan that seeks to to to advance or to mitigate or to lessen the
8:49
impact of the of the 14 days we believe then that when we install it then we
8:55
will be able to supply some of the loads that we can actually pick up and I must
9:00
emphasize then then then to say it is also part of what we have brought back
9:06
as early as yesterday which is the critical load that is our airport the fire station humud police station and
9:13
then that Transformer will also go to add a little bit of of of of of a relief
9:19
in terms of the residence that is that one then the other mitigation that we
9:24
embarking on that is where now we went outside spread our wings as com is on the ground
9:29
we started as early as yesterday engaging with the with the escom with the preliminary discussions today we
9:36
agree that they will be onite today they onite they are finalizing their inspections as we speak and we are going
9:43
to reconvene again to finaly whatever the find is that they are going to find what would be the cost
9:50
that would be coming out of there then furthermore
9:56
we we have the the third Al fourth alternative which is then to look for is
10:02
there a way perhaps that we can utilize if possible the use of the generators
10:09
for an example and these generators we are still in the preliminary
10:15
discussions with that we are going to reconvene as well with with myself and
10:21
and the team and the supplier just to find out if at all possible that can also help um I don’t know if there is
10:28
anything that I’ve left but I would like to say to the residents of the Metro
10:33
please bear with us this is just an emergency it just happened at unexpected
10:39
time yes the structures are Ro are rusted and everything but we were ready
10:45
to actually do our maintenance then but it’s just then that it happens because of the gust winds that we have thank you
10:53
very much thank you yes just from my side
11:01
um I’d like to plead with it with the residents um I know it’s frustrating to
11:08
be without electricity um normally uh during load shaing we
11:14
were it was 2 hours now we have and we know uh bad it was for those two hours
11:21
and now you have an extended period without electricity so we we’d like to apologize to the residents uh for the
11:28
income convenience scores um but uh like Mr try just said um if you look um at
11:37
the the N2 for example just other side John Talon Drive
11:44
um normally this only happens once in a couple of years that um we we get this
11:51
Waters rushing over uh the N2 and the the rocks and so forth but um now it’s
11:58
happened in the space of 30 days it happened twice already um the the winds that we’ve been
12:05
experiencing over the last two days is also out of the ordinary uh people refer
12:11
to the city as the windy city um but uh it’s actually a scientific fact that uh
12:18
this Metro this city uh Kaba is actually the least windy city coastal city in on
12:26
the South African Coastline um that is a a scientific fact as well but we’ve got
12:33
the tag of being the the the wiic city uh but we like to refer to ourselves as
12:40
the friendly City I think what we’re going to do now there’s no other comments do you anything from your
12:46
side uh what we’re going to questions we’ll open the floor for questions from
12:51
the media if there are any um if you ask me there’s supposed to be none because
12:56
we covered everything but I see one hand I think what we’re going to do now is we’re going to give
13:03
two three four hands Mr I think you can direct thank you colleagues um we
13:09
appreciate um you introduce yourself your media house and then you post your questions we’ll take three at a
13:26
time more than one question but um I’m hoping just to get clarity firstly on
13:32
the state of those Pyon Towers I mean were there any and I’m just trying to
13:38
figure out were you hoping that they won’t fall or did you test them and then the wind came and the wind was too
13:44
strong because the minute you say the thing was rusted and oh but you were going to replace but I mean where how
13:50
did you time the replacement of those finals my first question then the second
13:55
one is uh will the water services be affected by this
14:01
outage um and then the third one is I’m assuming one should never assume but we
14:08
haven’t don’t have information on this but is the drift sence or the treatment works affected by this and what will be
14:14
the impact as well as for the including the the SE
14:20
pums afternoon The Herald I’m L cat from the first question I just want to know on
14:27
when was when was it actually established that uh there was something wrong with the with the penion when was
14:33
it 3 years ago then you decided that you
14:38
and and if that’s the case why did you decide you’re going to do it this year was it a financial thing last year or
14:44
the year before c from usam Africa um unfortunately May I’m not here for the
14:51
briefing I’m running with another story today so I I’ve had a conversation with regarding the talks that are currently
14:57
happening between the Democratic Alliance and thec provincially um on a
15:04
forming a union for the nas M Bay Metro so with that said it seems as though
15:10
your current position is on the line do you know about that did you know about
15:16
the talks have has anyone reached out to you regarding that um and what do you
15:22
have to say about that uh and also second part is that um the ANC says that
15:28
they are willing to continue working with you but just not as mayor so would you be willing to continue serving in
15:35
Council or being part of this
15:40
Coalition thank you colleagues if you could
15:47
um for the purpose of this particular PR briefing um focus on the agenda at hand and then
15:56
if there’s any other issues besides
16:02
um
16:09
interviews thank you
16:15
from I just want to know when were these
16:20
pylons or transmission were directed and also over the years what kind
16:26
of what kind of uh services is what kind of services have you been doing
16:32
uh you spoke of earlier on saying before
16:37
they I just want to know in fact before they collapse were there any plans to replace them or what kind of because the
16:44
infrastructure from time to time has to been uh serviced so looking at this before they collapsed what kind of
16:51
services have been have they been have been done before and also maybe when you
16:57
spoke of uh um them being
17:04
vulnerable and saying you were also going to include them at this financial year so what do you mean were you going
17:11
to replace them or you were also going to look what ised and then what is
17:25
rested I think it’s Mr T and Mr ttii that needs to answer yeah okay Coles can
17:31
we answer the first round of questions and then we’ll get to the next round um thank you thank you very much I’m not
17:38
good at capturing questions I might I might miss I might miss some but if I do
17:44
please please uh please bear with me I think the first question was with regard to the status the status of the of the
17:51
pons themselves um the pylons are L structure uh bi material and they
18:02
are subjected to weather conditions in this case we are talking about the
18:09
structures that are erected very close to the Sea so at the moment if I capture
18:15
the question correctly it status is this they have collapsed there are four of
18:21
them picture it in this way maybe it was two then when these two pylons fall then
18:27
they will tend to pull the other too so if you ask for the status they are
18:33
corroded all right and then this corrosion coupled with the gale force
18:40
that we have and then that then made the collapse so they have collapsed now if I
18:45
capture that question correctly I hope I hope I hope I do if I don’t then uh
18:51
please please bear with me the second question I didn’t capture it 100% I
18:56
actually lost it and then then the the other one would be water related would
19:02
be water related facilities that I’m going to give it to my Ed to to answer
19:08
for it I think we paring for the second one if we
19:16
can I think the plan the maintenance plan when did the
19:22
metalious anticipated toct that informs the budget for this
19:29
you want take
19:35
it no I just want to know when did you establish the damage the actual problem that you might need to work on this was
19:41
it last year the year before the that work or the the actual defects which we
19:47
identify through the inspection okay um good afternoon uh my name is to I’m the
19:54
acting sener director electric and energy uh for distribution f
19:59
so pretending in terms of the maintenance we have already identified um quite a number of defect not
20:06
necessarily on these specific lines um on other lines as well and on this
20:13
specific one I just want to read quickly the report this is a maintenance report plan for 2024 2025 which is highlighting
20:21
this line as one of the critical line so what we’ have done from our side you will see when you go inside there’s an
20:26
existing line which is double second structured line and parallel to that line there are monopol still still
20:33
monopol so meaning we already started working on the second line on side so when you go inside you’ll be able to see
20:40
that that is where our colleagues escom will try to FR trate and then work on that and then on the other side you will
20:46
see there’s an ash pole uh structures which are already erected um and then
20:51
this is where our contractors will be working on so we’ve already identified this defect and we’ve started working as
20:58
far as from the last Financial year so unfortunately now due to budget and also the the complexity of construction work
21:05
it cannot be completed within a very short period of time so hence then we’re asking escom to then ask um to complete
21:11
that section and then our contractor to be assisting in the other section and I think in terms of the the age of the
21:18
line it is it was constructed late 1970s so we are looking at 1978 so it is
21:26
more or less due for replacement okay um just before you my I just wanted
21:34
to qualify it because now I can understand the question I think I think I think he has
21:40
hit it on the head but sometimes this technical words are interpreted as Jon
21:48
to you may not necessarily send the correct message that we want to send yes
21:53
we have identified it on time that is why we started working on it already
21:58
actually the bypass we call it the bypass that bypass that we have built there is quite significant it’s quite
22:06
significant and it is actually helping with the current with the current
22:12
solution that we want to embark on other words we just going to extend a short piece of what we have already done yes
22:18
we have actually identified that one and we have worked on that is why it is in this year’s budget thank you
22:29
thank you very much um from a water and sanitation point of view
22:34
um um they is disruption only from a West Water point of view I think two of
22:41
our treatment works the dri sense as well as cap res are affected as we speak
22:49
um at cap Reser um there is no power we have got a generator only to to power
22:57
our Inlet works um so that we are able to screen and obviously put the you know um um the
23:05
West into the environment um what we have do from a
23:10
legislative point of view is to inform the department of water and sanitation who the licensing authority of this
23:18
incident um but again as part of stabilization and
23:23
continuation before full restoration we will be again looking into some of the
23:28
bigger generators with electricity Ure that you should be able to power the plant at drift
23:34
sense um which is again a West Water Treatment R um we have got a generator on site as
23:42
much as there’s no electricity it was being filled you should be able to start it up and the
23:49
operations continues without us from a water regulation point of view
23:55
um there is no um inst installation that has affected from a strategic point of
24:01
view almost of our installations SCH is is
24:06
functional and and most of all our treatment works has got power so the
24:12
water reticulation grade is stable and we continue to provide everyone with water in the city it might be with the
24:19
exception of you know private residents within the per urban areas that are off
24:25
the reticulation GD especially around Sardinia day that might be experiencing
24:31
water disruption because their pumps or anything is off but actually everybody
24:37
that is connected to the water ration Gade should be having water um within
24:43
the city but we continue to monitor the situation if there are any subsequent
24:48
failures obviously we react from there but for now we continue to to provide
24:55
fairly you know good water and sanitation services thank you okay any other
25:03
question any other
25:11
question I think I may be loud enough to speak everybody you can hear me um I’m
25:17
Alan from mype.co.za and I’ll keep my questions short so that you can follow them thank
25:24
you in in in this round of Maintenance how many more pons in the entire system
25:30
have been identified that need to be replaced that’s number one uh number two
25:35
is there significant vandalism and stealing of metal from any of the pylons
25:41
that’s number two number three would it be fair to say that the gale force wins
25:46
with the Tipping Point and not the cause for do you have an ETA on when
25:53
this Transformer from qua for will be operational and
26:00
five could you perhaps give us an indication in terms of your best and your worst case scenaria for the
26:07
resumption of electricity to the affected areas thank
26:15
you colle any last two then we close off the session
26:32
uh let me start with the worst case
26:38
scenario yeah the the worst case scenario is the
26:45
preliminary uh investigation or assessment that we have done as early as
26:51
yesterday that determined the 14 days um and and that was based uh with
27:00
our current capacity right now that on its own then
27:09
triggered this other alternative mitigation plans that we are
27:15
embarking on with all things being equal and assuming for a second then that
27:24
we take any of those mitigation
27:30
plans which is what we are doing particularly with the moving of the Transformer from qua
27:38
then whatever that worst case scenario of the 14 days that we have then will
27:44
will reduce yes these are just preliminary assessments that we have made it may not
27:51
necessarily be equal to what is going to happen on the ground
27:56
right um assuming then we execute all of these
28:03
Alternatives that we have then we are even taking even the far better reduced
28:09
impact of the 14 days that I want to turn it the worst
28:19
case um that qu Transformer is covered in the report but let me just
28:26
repeat then to say is part of our Alternatives that we are embarking on and it is going to help with whatever
28:33
that we currently have for an example the airport is back on South End fire station is back on then when we put that
28:40
Transformer there is going to help even in a greater deal then the mo the the
28:46
the removal of the trans the the Transformer has already been deenergized it is no longer energized now now the
28:53
removal of it from where it is to where we want it to be we set ourselves appr
28:59
prly 3 days so we are talking 27 days so the targeted time for R to carry load
29:06
which then will reduce the worst case scenario of the previous question is on the 27th assuming everything checks and
29:14
balances everything uh is okay um
29:30
vandalism U is another elephant in the room but for this problem area in
29:37
question uh that we have we didn’t really find that which that one can Pino
29:44
then to say there was vandalism U we were aware of the
29:50
problem and that’s why we acted on it but one
29:56
cannot hand % rule out vandalism but we didn’t quantify it or we didn’t find it
30:03
to be the root cause of the problem with the current problem that we have the
30:08
rest of the other question I’m going to give you to my colleague Mr it’s done
30:14
done I I think in terms of maybe responding to vandalism we have members
30:22
of structures which are vandalized on the very same line I think it goes in
30:28
terms of how the number of Def that have identified on the very same line but
30:33
specifically on the alington line we have identified a structure which has been um vandalized and it it forms part
30:41
of our uh plan to replace it and also the other defects which we’ve identified
30:48
and I think we we just need to indicate that um we we did not only identified only these four structures uh I think
30:55
you will see when you go inside we have quite a number of structures that are being erected currently still monopole
31:02
CU we want to move away completely from the existing line and build up a completely new line but it’s unfortunate
31:09
as we having this incident now we need to respond as quick as possible can I just ask one more
31:16
question I don’t need the microphone just want to make sure so when was the last time before this incident that your
31:25
team was out there at the fin what that was
31:31
that I can comfortably ask answer that because I’m still new I’m 4 months old
31:36
in this municipality so if I can answer that question means we we’ve been there
31:41
um like as early um as um I think two months ago where we verified uh the
31:49
inspection on this specific Landes and were you happy when you verified them
31:54
that they would last through August because we know August is the windy month okay H then in terms of our maintenance
32:01
plan we put it as the high priority because um specifically this section it
32:06
was yeah it was the high priority you were not happy well I wasn’t happy H then the beginning of financial year for
32:13
the municipal start in July so then the planning will be starting primarily in terms of the August of which we are
32:19
current in August and then September going for that is that is where we starting doing construction work for the
32:25
municipality yeah so it just happened coin it’s
32:35
unfortunate no I’m just going to ask for one on one for translations okay that’s my first question about how many
32:42
problem being shaking the system we have but this this
32:49
specific one were of like the high priority but we’ve identified quite a number of of um of structures which are
32:57
defected hence then I indicated that we we’ve erected quite a number of structures as well in parallel just to
33:03
address these issues but out of my head I cannot give you the the exact number but we’ve identified quite a few
33:09
difference of the
33:14
number okay colleagues that brings us to the end of our press bre
Alan Straton
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