Two acts of cable theft on Monday morning left a man dead, a sub-station aflame, and the Roodepoort area without power, Johannesburg City Power said.
Spokesman Sol Masolo said the first theft happened at a Roodetown substation and left the nearby area without power from 7am.
"Due to the fact that the protection cables at the Roodetown substation have been stolen, an attempted cable theft at Roodepoort caused fire which burned one of the transformers, causing the power interruption," Masolo said in a statement.
City power officials found an electrocuted body at the Roodepoort station. More details were not available.
Masolo said officials were working to restore power to the area following the cable theft.
The fire at the sub-station also knocked out traffic lights, resulting in traffic jams, the Johannesburg metro police said.
Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said power to the traffic lights was expected to be out for the rest of the day.
Minnaar said morning traffic was "very, very heavy" as a result of the power outage.
Metro police officials had been deployed to direct traffic at the main intersections in Roodepoort.
- Times Live
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