This is according to the HIT (Harrismith, Intabazwe and Tshiame) Residents Association Chairperson, Willem König, who says the town was without electricity for a week, from Monday 5 September to Monday 12 September 2022.

He explains that the power was restored for a few hours before the substation blew up again on Monday night at around 21:00.

König adds that the municipality was on site trying to gradually restore power to the community when the substation failed again.

“This is now really becoming a problem. There are a couple of businesses that are closed already. A few more are going to follow this week. I would say that about 10% to 15% of them probably will not survive this economically. There are going to be job losses, there are businesses that are going to have to close their doors permanently. Not just temporarily - permanently.”

König says the Acting Municipal Manager, Bassie Ungerer, has been ensuring that the community is well informed of the crisis and the process of resolving it, though he is unsure when the problem will be resolved.

On Monday 12 September 2022, the Maluti-a-Phofung municipality posted an electricity update on its Facebook page again, stating:

“One of the main feeders at the Makabelane Substation is off due to equipment failure.

"Affected areas are Elite, Phuthaditjhaba, Setsing CBD, Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Regional Hospital and Riverside.

"This matter is receiving urgent attention from both MAP and Eskom Hld SOC Ltd technical teams.”

Queries have been sent to the municipality in this regard.

OFM News/Mpho Mohapi