Johannesburg – Parts of Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, were without electricity on Sunday after a substation exploded, the City of Tshwane said.

“It has been established that the blast occurred as a result of [a] cable theft attempt,” spokesperson Selby Bokaba said in a statement.

The explosion, which happened around 11:00 at the Soshanguve K section substation, left residents in sections K, M, H and F without power.

Residents living in sections IA, FF, DD, and BB were also without power due to the IA substation tripping because of the explosion.

“Technicians from the city of Tshwane’s energy and electricity division have been hard at work and managed to back feed substation IA,” Bokaba said.

Power was later restored to sections FF, DD, BB and IA.

He said sections K, M, H and F were still without power, which was expected to be restored on Monday.

The city apologised for the inconvenience caused.

SAPA