An air of sadness hangs over City Power after senior operator Kallie van Vuuren lost his life in an explosion at a substation in Roodepoort, Gauteng, Thursday morning.
City Power Acting CEO Tshifularo Mashava said she “was disheartened by the death of one of our technicians following an electrical accident this morning in Roodepoort”.
She added: “It is a sad day for us at City Power as we lost one of our own, a hard-working individual who dedicated his entire life to serving the City of Johannesburg and City Power.
“On behalf of the Management and Board, we extend our heartfelt condolences to the Van Vuuren family, especially the children who were with us on site, and strength to his friends and colleagues in City Power, especially at Roodepoort Service Delivery Centre.”
Narrating events leading to the tragedy, City Power Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said: “The area of Wilropark experienced an outage from earlier this morning, and the two employees were working to locate the fault along Molopo Street when the switch from one of the mini substations blew up”.
Van Vuuren had been working with his colleague when the explosion occurred.
Van Vuuren, who worked at City Power for more than 19 years, was badly injured and paramedics certified him dead on site.
“The colleague escaped unharmed,” Mangena said.
He said City Power reported the matter to the authorities, as legally required, including the Department of Labour and the police who have taken over the scene.
Mashava said: “I have ordered that an internal investigation be conducted into the incident and the cause of the explosion.
“We will provide the necessary support to the family of our colleague during this time of need.”
Mashava said the probe into the explosion would “unfortunately” delay repairs and restoration of electricity to the customers affected.
“We will start working immediately after the scene is cleared and handed over to us,” Mashava.
“We really apologise for the delays which are beyond our control, and the inconvenience caused.”
