JPOMA calls for urgent intervention as inner-city explosions highlight Johannesburg’s infrastructure crisis

The Johannesburg Property Owners and Management Association (JPOMA), which represents property owners and managers across the Johannesburg inner city, regrettably issues an urgent call for decisive, city-wide intervention as repeated infrastructure failures escalate into a serious public safety crisis. Two major emergency incidents in the inner city this week underscore the fragility of core services and the speed with which infrastructure failure can translate into loss of life, severe injury and widespread risk.

Two incidents in one week: rising risk in the inner city

On Tuesday morning, 3 February 2026, an incident in New Doornfontein resulted in a severe electrical event with tragic consequences. One person died, and two others were seriously injured.

Following the incident, the City of Johannesburg issued public statements asserting that there had been no transformer explosion. JPOMA notes the Mayor’s statement, which read: “Our investigations confirm that the ground-mounted transformer did not explode; instead, it tripped in response to an incident, functioning as designed to protect itself. The transformer oil is still intact, with no sign of any electrical or transformer-related explosion.”

JPOMA disputes this account. Evidence from the site, together with independent technical assessments, indicates that the incident was transformer-related and involved failures in compliant installation as well as the absence or malfunction of essential protective equipment designed to prevent faults from escalating into catastrophic events. Physical evidence strongly suggests that the transformer ruptured from within.

A second incident on Friday morning, 6 February 2026, involving an alleged transformer explosion followed by a building fire at the corner of Bree Street and Harrison Street, reinforces JPOMA’s warning. The inner city is now exposed to compounding safety hazards as a direct consequence of failing infrastructure and inadequate preventative maintenance.

A visible decline that has reached crisis point

JPOMA notes that the deterioration of basic infrastructure in the inner city has been evident for more than two decades. Daily realities such as power outages, water leaks, unsafe street-level infrastructure and repeated “temporary” fixes — is now translating into emergency incidents. This outcome was preventable.

Treasury data confirms systemic failure

National Treasury’s municipal finance reporting presents a clear and concerning picture. The City of Johannesburg is failing to meet the basic disciplines required to prevent infrastructure collapse.

Treasury’s UIFW data reflects billions of Rands in unauthorised expenditure, alongside continued irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Treasury reporting consistently links deteriorating service delivery to inadequate funding and poor execution of repairs, maintenance and infrastructure renewal programmes.

Essential preventative maintenance is not being funded or delivered at the scale required, while financial mismanagement persists. JPOMA’s position is unequivocal. When maintenance is deferred year after year, and unauthorised, irregular and wasteful expenditure continues to appear, infrastructure failure is not bad luck. It is predictable, and residents, workers and businesses in the inner city bear the risk.

JPOMA’s call for urgent intervention

JPOMA calls on the City of Johannesburg and its municipal entities to move immediately from reactive incident response to a credible, city-wide intervention programme focused on preventing avoidable disasters and stabilising critical infrastructure.

This requires visible, funded and measurable commitments to essential maintenance and infrastructure renewal, as well as clear consequence management for the financial and operational decisions that have driven Johannesburg to this point.

JPOMA continues working with the City

JPOMA remains committed to partnering with the City of Johannesburg to stabilise and improve the inner city and the broader metro. We acknowledge the constructive engagement already established with parts of the City administration, and we will continue to work alongside the City to deliver tangible improvements that protect residents, businesses and public safety.

ENDS