The country’s power utility has reassured the North West Provincial Government that it will restore power to affected areas before end of business today. Several parts of the Mahikeng Local Municipality have been without electricity for several days. This includes Golfview, Riviera Park, Mahikeng CBD, Danville, Majemantsho, Dihatshwane and Mosiane View. The power outages were caused by the explosion on the Mahikeng main sub-station at Golfview.

North West Spokesperson for Eskom, Ezekiel Baruti says a mobile infrastructure unit has been mobilised while Eskom starts the process of rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure.

“The mobile electricity infrastructure unit (Mobile Switch Gear) is now in place and will restore electricity supply to Golfview, Riviera Park, Mahikeng CBD and Danville today. Areas which have since been connected to other feeders will also be connected to this unit,” said Baruti.

North West Premier, Kaobitsa Bushy Maape has applauded efforts by Eskom and is hoping the electricity supply will restore the livelihood of residents in affected areas. 

“Electricity should be restored in due course and we want to thank Eskom for all their efforts of working around the clock to restore electricity. We also want to thank the affected residents for their patience and understanding. We know that it was not easy and we hope their lives will go back to normality” remarked Premier Maape.

Residents are also urged to refrain from tampering with the electricity infrastructure and report such incidents to relevant authorities. It remains unclear what could be the cause of the explosion, but investigations are currently underway by Police. The provincial government has urged the power utility to keep residents abreast of any developments.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of North West Office of the Premier, Republic of South Africa.