By: ANG Reporter
Senior City Power technician Kallie Van Vuuren who is an employed Senior Operator was killed on Thursday during an explosion on one of the mini substations he was working on with his colleague in Wilropark, west of Joburg. His colleague escaped unharmed.
The area of Wilropark experienced an outage on Thursday morning, and the two employees were working to locate the fault along Molopo street when the switch from one of the Minisubstations blew up.
Van Vuuren, who worked at City Power for over 19 years was badly injured and paramedics certified him dead on site. “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,” said City Power acting chief executive Tshifularo Mashava.
“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.”
“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.
City Power reported the matter to the authorities, as it’s legally required, including the Department of Labour and the police who have taken over the scene.
“This unfortunately will delay the repairs and restoration of electricity to the customers affected. We will start working immediately after the scene is cleared and handed over to us.
We really apologise for the delays which are beyond our control, and the inconvenience caused,” said Mashava
