Excavation alongside the road Electricity and Energy Directorate teams excavate and repair a damaged underground cable in the Overport/Essenwood area after repeated faults disrupted electricity supply to residents over several days. Photo: Cllr Remona McKenzie
Residents across Overport, Essenwood, and surrounding areas endured a grueling multi-day power crisis last week, sparking fresh calls for eThekwini Municipality to urgently replace its rapidly deteriorating underground cable network.
The crisis, which began last Thursday, 9 July, left hundreds of homes and businesses in the dark or battling severe low-voltage issues before electricity was finally restored last Sunday morning.
Municipal electricity teams worked through the night to locate and repair successive faults between the Berea Park and Overport City substations. According to the municipality, the restoration process was severely compromised on Saturday when a second major feeder cable failed. Efforts to reroute power were thwarted because the Jameson Park Substation, which usually provides an alternative supply, was temporarily offline ahead of a scheduled infrastructure upgrade.
Throughout the ordeal, frustrated residents relied on regular, round-the-clock updates from Ward 27 Councillor Ernest Smith and Ward 31 Councillor Remona McKenzie, who continuously liaised with repair teams on the ground. Early technical assessments revealed that the initial Thursday outage was caused by a medium-voltage cable fault between the Berea Park Substation and Southridge Road. However, as technicians excavated and tested the lines, they uncovered further faults that required extensive cable replacements.
