- Nelson Mandela Bay experiences its seventh high voltage transmission pylon collapse in under two years.
- Nearly half of Gqeberha affected after failure on the Summerstrand Arlington 132 kV line.
- Municipality estimates R35 million required to replace severely corroded infrastructure.
Nelson Mandela Bay has suffered yet another major electricity infrastructure failure after a high voltage transmission pylon collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday 11 March 2026, cutting power to large parts of Gqeberha.
The incident occurred on the Summerstrand Arlington 132 kV transmission line and marks the seventh pylon collapse in the metro within less than two years. The latest failure has plunged nearly half of the city into darkness, raising renewed concerns about the deteriorating condition of the municipality’s electricity infrastructure.
Municipal officials confirmed that the Chelsea Summerstrand Arlington line is in a severely compromised state due to extensive rust, corrosion and structural weakness across the transmission structures.
Authorities estimate that about R35 million is urgently required to replace the entire line in order to prevent further catastrophic failures.
The outage has disrupted electricity supply to several key areas including Summerstrand, Walmer, Humewood and Humerail, as well as surrounding neighbourhoods. Municipal engineers have begun repair work, but officials warned that the complexity of rebuilding the damaged structure means it could take up to 10 days to fully restore electricity supply.
The latest incident follows another major transmission failure earlier this year. In January 2026 a pylon collapse on the Bethelsdorp Greenbushes line left sections of the metro without electricity and water for several days, highlighting growing reliability challenges in the local grid.
To manage limited available power during the current outage, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has implemented a load rotation schedule across domestic supply groups.
The latest collapse has intensified scrutiny over infrastructure maintenance in Nelson Mandela Bay as businesses and residents face continued power disruptions and growing uncertainty around the reliability of the city’s electricity network.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
