Marshalltown residents demand answers as blackouts grip Joburg inner city

Johannesburg inner-city residents have reached breaking point after nearly three weeks of recurring blackouts, with a third fire at the Central Substation in less than two weeks prompting Marshalltown residents to call an urgent meeting at Gandhi Square on Monday.

Residents say repeated infrastructure sabotage is disrupting education, businesses, water supply and livelihoods, while City Power investigates what it suspects could be organised criminal activity targeting the inner city’s underground power network.

The latest fire destroyed critical feeder boards and underground cables, undoing weeks of restoration work that City Power says was nearly 98% complete.

Marshalltown resident and parent, Lebogang Modukanene, says the power crisis is now affecting her daughter’s matric year, with the learner forced to prepare for preliminary examinations in the dark

Modukanene says the impact is being felt across the community, with residents forced to throw away spoiled groceries and small businesses struggling to operate without affordable backup power.

She says some residents in high-rise buildings are also losing access to water because electricity is needed to pump water to upper floors.

The latest outage follows a series of fires at the Central Substation, which supplies parts of Marshalltown and the Johannesburg CBD.

According to City Power, evidence recovered from underground cable tunnels points to deliberate sabotage and targeted cable theft. Emergency teams reportedly found axes, jigsaws and other heavy equipment beneath the damaged feeder boards.

A suspect who was severely burnt during the incident remains under police guard in hospital.

City Power officials now suspect organised criminal syndicates could be behind the deliberate tampering.

However, residents say identifying those responsible is no longer enough and are demanding stronger physical protection of critical infrastructure.

Marshalltown resident, Kebone Bolofo, says utility providers must deploy security measures that match the threat facing the power network.

“You found out the first time that it’s vandalism. Sure, great. It happens. Where are the police? Where are soldiers? Where are enforcers of the law to ensure that this doesn’t happen? Do something about the situation… Great, arrest the guy. Now go put soldiers there. Go do something.”

Bolofo says residents need more than updates on arrests and investigations, arguing that critical infrastructure must be actively protected from further attacks.

“The same way that governments and everyone else has measures in place to protect the things that they deem important, they should be protecting our power lines.”

The latest fire has also raised concerns among local businesses already struggling with prolonged outages and the cost of alternative power.

A 60-year-old Marshalltown pensioner says she has been forced to climb seven flights of stairs while carrying a gas canister and spend hundreds of rands on alternative fuel as the outages continue.

City Power says technical teams have resumed restoration work after temperatures inside the underground tunnels dropped to levels considered safe for access.

The utility says power will be restored progressively once equipment has been tested and declared safe.

However, no official estimated time for full restoration has been provided.

Residents will gather at Gandhi Square on Monday evening for a mass meeting to discuss the ongoing crisis, demand answers from the authorities and determine a way forward.

For communities that have spent weeks navigating prolonged outages, the meeting is expected to place renewed pressure on City Power over both the restoration of electricity and the protection of the infrastructure that keeps the inner city running.

#CityPowerUpdates #InnerCitySDC

Acting CEO Charles Tlouane briefing community leaders outside the Central Substation, which caught fire. The Acting CEO and COO are leading the technical teams overseeing the recovery and repair efforts to accelerate the restoration of… pic.twitter.com/ENcJsDrwYm

— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) September 28, 2026

Written by: Lebohang Ndashe