BLOEMFONTEIN – The explosion at the Bayswater Distribution Centre on Monday 23 February at around 21:25 that plunged households in the north of the city into darkness, was resolved within 24 hours.
This followed a weekend that residents in the north spent without electricity since Saturday.
The Mangaung Metro Executive Mayor Gregory Nthatisi explained in a news release the explosion involved a 132/33kV, 80MVA transformer manufactured in 1978. “The transformer that has been in operation for approximately 48 years, suffered catastrophic failure.”
Technical teams form Centlec worked on site since and restored power on Tuesday around 22:00.
Nthatisi said the incident highlights the structural vulnerability posed by ageing infrastructure. “During the 2024/25 financial year, Centlec initiated the procurement and installation of new transformers. They have already been deployed in Vista Park, the Noordhoek Distribution Centre and the Botshabelo Substation as part of the broader infrastructure modernisation programme.”
He said the metro is acceleration the phased replacement of ageing assets across its electricity network to enhance long-term system reliability.
Selmé Pretorius, DA ward councillor says in a news release on Tuesday the equipment at the Bayswater Distribution Centre was so old that external specialists had to be called in.
“During the restoration attempts, concerns emerged around transformer oil levels,” she said.
“In addition, certain loads could not be restored due to inadequately charged DC batteries.” She and DA ward councillor Rudi Maartens said reports also mentioned the Neutral Earthing Resistor.
“We acknowledge and appreciate the technicians who worked tirelessly to prevent further damage and restore the supply,” their news release said.
“However, the real issue is governance, maintenance discipline, and asset risk management. This is not a single fault, but a resilience failure across multiple layers of critical infrastructure.”
They said this is a threat to businesses and essential services. “Residents have also reported that repeated and sudden power outages are causing appliances to malfunction or break. As a result, food stored in refrigerators were spoilt. With the cost of living already so high, residents cannot afford to lose essential household appliances and groceries.”
On Wednesday, a loss of power was reported from the Vaalbank-Zuid feeder. This affected the Maselspoort Water Treatment Plant which led to another interruption in the treatment of water.
Maselspoort supplies 30% of the water to Mangaung and water supply have already been affected due to the four day power outage.
Valerie de Kock, VF Plus councillor said this party warned long ago that critical infrastructure like the water treatment plants should have reliable backup power and reserve power systems.
“This occurrence is not just a technical accident, it is the direct result of bad planning and poor maintenance. The onus is on the municipality to have emergency plans to prevent a single transformer fault to bring a whole are to a standstill,” De Kock said.
Although several businesses had to close temporarily due to the power outage, Nthatisi assured residents that the electricity interruption at the Loch Logan Waterfront was not connected to the Bayswater incident.
Read full story here: Waterfront in Bloemfontein doen sake al het Centlec die krag afgesny.
