NMB mayor ‘was warned about precarious state of power pylons’ months before they collapsed

In June, an email from a source known to Daily Maverick, entitled “Urgent Electricity Info”, was sent to Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor Gary van Niekerk, warning about the parlous state of high-voltage electricity pylons on one of the city’s electricity lines covering four municipal wards.

Two months later, on 23 August, the pylons collapsed. In some parts of the city, the electricity outage caused by the collapse lasted for 10 days.

Read more: Parts of Nelson Mandela Bay face 14-day power outage, pylon repairs could take months

The municipality claimed that strong winds caused the pylons, which were dilapidated and rusted, to collapse. There were plans to replace them this year.

The Democratic Alliance and the ACDP have called for an independent probe into the collapse of the pylons.

In a recent letter addressed to the acting city manager, Mandla George, who the National Treasury seconded to run the city while the city manager, Noxolo Nqwazi, is suspended and on trial for corruption, ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom asked for an independent investigation into the collapse of the pylons. The DA’s Dries van der Westhuyzen made a similar call on 31 August.

Grootboom, a former mayoral committee member for electricity, said after the June email was sent, “Nothing happened. They did nothing. They were told about it. The mayor tells the city he acted swiftly — it is a lie. If he acted, he could have prevented the collapse,” said Grootboom. “We need an investigation.”

The municipality has received permission to deviate from standard supply chain regulations because of the crisis caused by the collapse of the pylons.

After a week, the metro has still not responded to questions about the maintenance and construction of the pylons.

Read more: Call for probe into collapse of pylons after Nelson Mandela Bay power restored

At a city council meeting on Wednesday, Van Niekerk said he would like to see a detailed plan for spending the R10-million set aside for the restoration of the line. He has not denied Grootboom’s claims, which were repeated at the council meeting.

Van Niekerk, who recently returned from yet another trip to China, has not answered questions about whether he had read the urgent email warning about the state of the pylons.

His chief of staff, Vasu Padayachee, said they were busy “preparing a press statement”, but this has not been forthcoming.

Work planned, but never started