City of Joburg accuses DA of political opportunism amid power supply issues in parts of inner-city

JOHANNESBURG - The City of Johannesburg's Environmental and Infrastructure Department accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of political opportunism as the metro continues to face power supply challenges in parts of the inner-city.

MMC Jack Sekwaila said the party undermined Johannesburg City Power's efforts to address the outages that crippled suburbs across the east of Johannesburg after the Observatory substation was gutted in a fire in December.

The blaze damaged essential infrastructure and impacted the Bellevue substation in the process, interrupting supply to areas including Bellevue, Bruma, Cyrildene, Bezuidenhout Valley, Kensington Observatory, and Malvern.

Sekwaila refuted claims by the DA that the power supply interruptions were not resolved because of the city's financial inefficiencies.