Crumbling infrastructure, systemic operational paralysis, and brazen extortion schemes have pushed Johannesburg’s electricity network to its breaking point, leaving the utility increasingly unable to cope with a localised crisis that councillors warn is sliding out of control. Daily Maverick’s Anna Cox reports.
Reporting by: Anna Cox
Filmed by: Joel Seboa
Edited by: Anda Tolibadi
Produced by: Emilie Gambade
Creative lead by: Malibongwe Tyilo
Sub-edited by: Ian Wolstenholme
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Read more: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-07-13-over-1200-city-power-outages-in-two-weeks-leave-joburg-buckling/?dm_source=blocks-list-item&dm_medium=card-link&dm_campaign=inform
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-07-13-extortion-syndicates-target-hapless-joburg-residents-amid-worsening-power-crisis/?dm_source=blocks-grid-square&dm_medium=card-link&dm_campaign=inform
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Chapters:
0:00 Johannesburg’s grid sliding out of control
0:38 Anna Cox reports: residents take to the streets in Kliptown and Diepkloof
1:13 Inside City Power’s operational collapse
1:46 Ward 57’s botched cable repair
2:14 The shadow economy of cash-for-power 2:38 Substations stripped, distribution boxes gutted
2:58 City Power’s denial
3:22 A collapse of governance
