When an inter-town passenger bus drove into and snapped a low-hanging electric cable in George Street early on 23 January, residents asked why it seemed to have been ignored, more than three hours after it was reported. Makana Municipality said their electricians had been there, but a changed padlock meant they weren’t able to access a substation so they could safely work on the fault.
A little after 5.30am on Sunday 23 January, Sunnyside resident Cathy Gorham (who gave permission for these posts by her to be used) put a warning on the Sunnyside neighbourhood WhatsApp group.
“Wire quite possibly live hanging very low across George Street. Wire runs along Lawrence so crosses the intersection there. [Local security company] has reported it. Looks low enough for a truck or bus to run into. Be careful.”
Seconds later, she posted: “Anyone else without electricity??”
Then almost immediately: “Intercape bus drove into this wire hanging over George Street.”
Gorham said she’d been leaving home to take her dogs for a walk. When she reached a tree on the corner, she looked up and noticed the low-hanging wire. Worried that it could hurt someone, she quickly went inside to report it to a local security company and warn her neighbours.
When Gorham went back outside, she was shocked to see that exactly what she’d predicted had just happened: an Intercape bus had come to a halt after driving into the cable and snapping it.
The force of the rebound had cracked a left side window of the bus and the driver was walking around the vehicle checking for further damage.
Gorham was horrified to see that the other end of the now broken cable had ended up exactly where she’d been standing with her dogs a few minutes earlier.
“If I’d left my house two minutes later with my dogs, one of the cables that snapped… would have hit me,” Gorham said. “It wrapped itself around the tree on the corner [i.e. the one she’d been standing next to].”
Another resident said the low-hanging cable had been reported to the municipality much earlier, to no avail.
Just over an hour later, Gorham reported that municipal electricians had arrived to work on the fallen lines.
Intercape Communication Officer Shaun Smeda confirmed that the incident did take place around 5.50am on the morning of 23 January 2022.
“No passengers or crew were injured,” said Smeda, who declined to comment further.
Makana Municipality said their standby electrician had received a call from the fire station at 2.10am about a power outage in George Street.
“He went to pick up the standby team, and arrived at 03:10,” spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said. “The team noticed a low-hanging aluminium conductor [at the intersection of] George and Lawrence streets.
Gusts of wind were blowing it towards the branches of a tree.
“When tested, it was discovered that the conductors were not live,” said Ramokolo.
The electrician organised a standby cherry picker team, who arrived at 4.30am.
“Both teams went to the Market [Square Centre] substation (at the back of Shoprite) where George and Lawrence streets are powered [from]; however, they could not get access to the substation, as the padlock [had been] changed…”.
“While still waiting for security, who arrived at 06:00, to open the substation for full isolation, the team received a call from the fire station, notifying them about the incident that involved the bus, which snapped off the low-hanging conductor,” said Ramokolo. “So, the main delay was a result of inaccessibility to the substation.”
Market Square Centre is managed by Broll Property and SmilingSouth spoke to the company’s asset manager for the Eastern Cape, Izak Kriel.
Kriel said, “There has been no instruction from me to provide or change a lock for that substation.”
Asked what the response protocol is for faults involving electrical infrastructure, Ramokolo said, “Faults are reported at the electricity department during the day and at the Fire Department after hours and then a standby electrician will be contacted.”
We asked: what does the maintenance programme for electrical infrastructure in Makhanda entail and how is the infrastructure checked for safety and integrity?
Makana responded: “The departmental maintenance programme entails substation inspections and overhead line inspections. These are checked through relevant testing equipment and captured on the relevant inspection sheets.”
Council’s portfolio committee for infrastructure has oversight of maintenance programmes through the inclusion of inspection records in its meeting agendas.
Have a say
Residents can play an effective role in highlighting neighbourhood issues through ward committees and Makana’s ward committee elections are coming up so ask your ward councillor for nomination forms. Think about people in your community who you think will make sure your concerns are heard and who can provide your ward councillor with the detailed information they need to fully represent your interests and help solve neighbourhood issues.
Read more about ward committees here.
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