In an effort to address the flood-related electricity outages experienced across the Metro, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor, Councillor Babalwa Lobishe, on Tuesday, 26 May 2026, escalated the matter through her office and convened an urgent meeting with senior management from the Electricity and Energy Directorate to implement a rapid response intervention.
Electricity and Energy senior management were requested to present a turnaround plan with clear, time-bound implementation measures aimed at restoring services to affected communities.
The meeting was attended by Ward Councillors from affected areas, including New Brighton, KwaZakhele, Veeplaas, Soweto-on-Sea, parts of Bethelsdorp, and Motherwell.
Following the recent heavy rains and strong winds, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality experienced significant damage to electricity infrastructure across the Metro.
The damage includes broken electricity and streetlighting poles, waterlogged underground electricity cables, and faults and trips within substations.
The adverse weather conditions also created opportunities for increased cable theft and vandalism in several areas.
The challenges currently being experienced by communities include:
- Non-functioning streetlights.
- Cable damage resulting in prolonged power outages.
- PublicWaterlogged underground cables that are difficult and time-consuming to detect.
- Extended outages due to the unavailability of replacement materials for damaged substations and related infrastructure.
- Limited personnel capacity compared to the scale of the challenges on the ground.
- Low water reservoir levels caused by electricity outages, resulting in water supply interruptions.
“The magnitude of the challenge demands that we adopt a different approach. I called this meeting to make it clear that we need a war room and rapid response approach. It is unacceptable for residents to remain without electricity for more than two weeks, regardless of the circumstances,” said Executive Mayor Lobishe.
Someof the key interventions agreed upon during the meeting include: Deploying contractors to supplement internal capacity in each affected ward.
Strict monitoring of contractor performance through the Office of the City Manager.
Exploring the acquisition of additional fit-for-purpose vehicles and equipment to support streetlight repairs and cable fault detection.
Implementing a coordinated plan between the Electricity and Energy Directorate and the Safety and Security Directorate to protect electricity infrastructure.
Providing regular progress updates to affected communities through Ward Councillors, supported by Electricity and Energy officials.
Facilitating engagement between the Electricity and Energy Directorate and Supply Chain Management to prioritise the procurement of critical materials required for repairs.
The Executive Mayor has directed the Directorate to provide her office with regular, solution-driven progress reports.
She will also be visiting some of the affected areas to assess progress on the ground and engage directly with impacted communities.
