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A Tshwane metro police officer controls traffic in Church Street. Picture: Sizwe Ndingane

A heavy storm left a trail of death and destruction, while cable thieves threw large parts of the central business district into darkness, interrupting the flow of electricity and shutting down government departments and private businesses yesterday.

Two people, one of them a child, are reported to have drowned in Mamelodi on Tuesday night after a heavy storm hit parts of Pretoria.

A man identified as 25-year-old Sonoko Motseletsele reportedly slipped and fell when he tried to cross an overflowing canal at Extension Five while on his way home.

Motseletsele and a friend had just visited his mother at the nearby Phase 1 and was walking home to Phase 4 when he encountered the raging canal, community leader France Malema said.

“He had just assisted four children to cross the swollen canal when he slipped and fell,” he said, adding that a friend he had been with raised the alarm, calling community members and police to the scene.

Mamelodi police spokeswoman Constable Mabel Sibanda said: “His body was found washed up a short distance from the place where he had been swept away, after a search by police divers.”

Tshwane Community Safety spokesman William Baloyi said that paramedics were also at the scene when the body was found.

“The canal was overflowing and it would appear that he lost his footing,” said Baloyi.

Tshwane Emergency Services spokesman Johan Pieterse said a child had also drowned in Mamelodi. He said: “One child drowned and was retrieved just after 9pm after two hours of heavy rain.”

The storms also saw the interruption of power at the Menlyn Park Shopping Centre and the rest of Pretoria East after the metro council’s main power cable supply was damaged by water.

Tshwane Metro spokesman Console Tleane said power had been restored by early yesterday afternoon and that no incidents had been reported. “The South African Police Service and Menlyn Park security worked hard to ensure a safe environment for shoppers and tenants,” he said.

Meanwhile, parts of the CBD were thrown into darkness on Tuesday night after thieves cut into the 132kv electricity cables.

Tleane said in their attempt to steal the cables, the thieves had cut into the 30cm thick cables, causing the oil insulating the cables to spill out. He said: “The system tripped, stopping the flow of electricity to parts of the city.”

Power had not been restored by yesterday afternoon, with Tleane saying the city’s technical teams were working non-stop, and would keep on doing so until the power was fully restored.

He said the “special” oil would be replaced and the cables would be insulated. “By tomorrow (today), power will be restored,” he said.

Affected areas included the south of Church Street, west of Paul Kruger Street, the eastern part of Schutte Street, and the Pretoria West Industrial Park.

Those affected include the Department of Home Affairs and the deeds offices, whose switchboards depend on electricity to function.

Home Affairs spokesperson Manusha Pillai said: “We have been without electricity all day,” adding that they had no idea when it would be restored.

Officials at the deeds office confirmed that the usual queues had formed outside their offices in the morning, but people had to be turned back without having been attended to.

“Most had come for the usual service grant and old-age pension related issues, and most will probably be back tomorrow (today),” a customer service official said.

Traffic lights were also affected, and Tshwane metro police were deployed to assist with traffic control.

“We anticipate the problem to persist into tomorrow (today), and we advise drivers to be patient, drive carefully and treat all traffic lights as stop signs,” Baloyi said.

The city asked that consumers switch off all non-essential appliances until electricity was restored, to assist with the load on the electrical network. - Pretoria News