Kempton Park suburbs without power until Tuesday after blast

An explosion at a substation is the cause of outages in a number of suburbs in Kempton Park.

Residents are only expected to have their electricity switched back on from 6pm on Tuesday, as a result of substantial damage being caused to the Glen Marais sub-station, the City of Ekurhuleni said in a statement on Sunday.

The city said: "After full assessment of the damage and work that needs to be done, we expect to start switching customers back from Tuesday 6pm. Areas affected include: Norkem Park, parts of Birchleigh, Allen Grove, Nimrod Park, Witfontein and Glen Marais."

Residents are fuming, with some saying they have been without power since early on Saturday. Here is a selection of views shared on the city's social media pages:

"You guys are heartless."

"No contingency plans, no maintenance, just wait for it to burn. So much for being the best run municipality."

"Old equipment, ageing infrastructure and fat cat power utility CEOs."

"Your maintenance strategy is run to failure. Poor cadre deployment. Engineering must be taking out of politicians, they know (nothing) about planning, maintenance and strengthening of infrastructure."

"It would be great if you came up with plan B the same way you provide water tanks when there's no water. We need to feed our families, bath, our food is going bad."

"Where can I claim my losses from the city? Freezer full of meat, fridge full of stock?"

"How are we supposed to cope until then? Must we buy generators? Will you supply generators??"

A few residents did spare a thought for the technicians on site: "The teams involved in restoring the power...thank you for your hard work. It is highly appreciated."