City says electricity shutdown warnings are incorrect

By Rhodé Marshall
16 January 2008

The City of Cape Town is urging residents in Cape Town not to be alarmed after an e-mail made the rounds warning people that electricity in the city would be shutdown from 9PM on Wednesday until seven the morning on Thursday.

“We are just informing residents that this e-mail is incorrect and that the correct position is that there will be a shutdown at nine tonight but only of the computer system that allows people to buy prepaid electricity,” says City of Cape Town spokesperson Charles Cooper.

Cooper says that the shutdown will occur at shops, café’s, and petrol filling stations – and that no electricity in residential areas will be shutdown.

“This will only apply to the areas known as the old Cape Town areas such as Mitchell’s Plain, Sea Point, Greenpoint, Milnerton, Epping and Valhalla Park. We therefore urge residents to before 9PM tonight buy electricity,” says Cooper.