The United Progressive People Alliance (UPPA) condemns the City of Tshwane’s handling of the electricity crisis that continues to leave communities in Mamelodi West without a reliable electricity supply.

For over a week now, residents of Mamelodi west have been forced to live in the dark. They are now tired of excuses and have taken to the streets to demonstrate their frustrations . They are tired of apologies. They are tired of being told that technical teams are “working around the clock” while families, businesses, students and vulnerable residents remain in the dark.

The City of Tshwane has acknowledged that the current crisis involves serious damage to the electricity network following the Waltloo substation explosion, which disrupted supply to Mamelodi 1, 2 and 3 substations. The City subsequently reported that power had been restored to those substations as part of its load-transfer interventions.

Yet Mamelodi West continues to experience outages.

The City’s own latest outage information identifies a separate problem at Mamelodi 1 Substation, citing vandalism of T4 units and theft of copper cables affecting areas including Sun Valley, A1, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, Naledi, D5 and C4.

UPPA rejects the idea that residents should simply accept this as the normal state of municipal government.

Electricity is not a luxury.

A parent cannot cook for their children without electricity. A learner cannot study properly without electricity. A small business cannot operate normally without electricity. A clinic, shop, salon, spaza shop or street trader cannot function normally when the power supply is unreliable.

And yet residents are repeatedly expected to carry the consequences of failures in municipal infrastructure, maintenance, security and emergency response.

The City cannot continue operating as though residents should be grateful whenever electricity is restored temporarily.

Tshwane residents deserve a reliable electricity network, not a cycle of outages, apologies and excuses.

WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY?

UPPA is demanding clear answers from the City of Tshwane:

1. What is the exact status of the Mamelodi 1 Substation?

2. What infrastructure has been damaged or stolen?

3. How much will repairs cost?

4. What is the confirmed restoration timeline for every affected area in Mamelodi West?

5. What security measures are being implemented to prevent further vandalism and cable theft?

6. Why are residents being left without clear, consistent and area-specific communication?

7. What contingency measures are in place to ensure that Mamelodi does not repeatedly become one of the areas carrying the burden of Tshwane’s electricity crisis?

Residents should not have to rely on social media posts, rumours and frustrated community reports to find out whether they will have electricity.

The recent Waltloo/Njala crisis has demonstrated how vulnerable Tshwane’s electricity network can become when critical infrastructure fails. The City has itself acknowledged the need for alternative supply arrangements and load management while the network is stabilised.

But a functioning municipality cannot measure success merely by how quickly it responds after infrastructure has failed.

The real test of municipal leadership is whether the infrastructure is maintained, protected and resilient before communities are plunged into darkness.

UPPA therefore calls for an urgent public electricity recovery and accountability plan for Mamelodi, including infrastructure audits, accelerated repairs, strengthened substation security, transparent maintenance schedules and regular public reporting.

The people of Mamelodi are not asking for favors.

They are demanding the basic service they pay for and deserve.

UPPA will continue to stand with Mamelodi residents and demand a Tshwane administration that builds, fixes and heals, rather than apologises after every failure.

Media enquiries

Abel Tau National Spokesperson 071 265 5040