The supply returned with a force exceeding the carrying capacity of affected lines, torching everything in contact.
A tall tree caught fire in Tlokweng, conducting the current into a nearby water pipe that supplies Martha Moraka's home in Botshabelo and destroying a geyser and electrical appliances in her house. "We are lucky that there was nobody taking a bath at the time," Moraka says, pointing out that she only bought the plot last year.
Moraka's neighbour, who has lived in the area for the past 30 years, says trees around the area are so tall that they disrupt the supply of electricity. "Every time there is the slightest windstorm, our supply is disrupted. We have long told the Botswana Power Corporation of the problem," she says.
A Shell petrol station - which is referred to by residents as "a bomb waiting to explode", is in the neighbourhood.
Representatives of the BPC complained to Mogae that they were not able to attend to faults immediately because access to the homesteads was difficult when owners were not available to open their gates.
Some of the pylons run over at least six commercial establishments, when the BPC-recommended standard says a property should be at least 30 metres from a power-line.
The Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, explained to President Mogae that all concerned were troubled by the spectre of catastophe the situation posed.
The President was accompanied by Kgosi Michael Gaborone of Tlokweng, the Member of Parliament for South East South (Tlokweng and Boatle) Olebile Gaborone, local councillor Same Bathobakae, the Press Secretary in the Office of the President Jeff Ramsay, the Minister of Lands and Housing Ramadeluka Seretse, and BPC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Kaluzi.
Meanwhile, world mining giant Debswana says it lost over P10 million during the electricity blackout.
