Fire damages and vandalism add to Joburg central substation woes
City Power says theft and vandalism have cost it hundreds of millions of rands in repairs, while outages continue to disrupt the inner city.
Johannesburg’s central substation in Marshalltown suffered significant damage from fire and vandalism, further complicating efforts to restore power to the inner city. This substation serves electricity to the inner city and surrounding areas, but has seen more than 10 major incidents in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years. Infrastructure crime contributes to repeated outages, with some incidents linked to cable theft and vandalism.
City Power has recorded six fire-related incidents involving its electricity infrastructure since January 2026, four of which involved theft and vandalism. The financial impact of infrastructure crime extends beyond the cost of replacing damaged equipment, with City Power spending approximately R260 million on repairs arising from theft and vandalism in the 2025-26 financial year, compared to R235.4 million in the previous year.
The first fire at the substation occurred at 1am on September 9, just hours after electricity was restored on September 6 following an initial outage. The second incident happened on September 26. The inner city has a 14km underground tunnel network with 81 manholes and several substations linked to it. These include Central, Fordsburg, City Gen, Durban Street, Bree, Kazerne, Pritchard, and Braamfontein substations.
The network has become vulnerable to criminal activity, including unauthorized access, cable theft, vandalism, and the removal of electricity components. Power restoration efforts have been hampered by the recent fire and vandalism, forcing City Power to isolate the substation and leaving customers without electricity. The affected areas include numerous streets and buildings in Marshalltown.
Repeated outages have disrupted residents, businesses, and government institutions in the area. DA shadow MMC for infrastructure, Tyrell Meyers, stated that securing the tunnel network and substations would require over R1 billion, a cost the city cannot afford. City Power has requested urgent police intervention, including day and night patrols, intelligence-led operations, and investigations into networks involved in stolen electricity infrastructure.
A R40 million tunnel rehabilitation project is planned, focusing on structural repairs, lighting, ventilation, drainage, and improved security measures. However, as of Monday afternoon, power at the central substation had not been restored.
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