This is according to spokesperson at the Free State Department of Health, Mondli Mvambi, who told OFM News that the man, who has been identified as Thembane Matuwane, now awaits two consultations with mental health professionals who will assess his state of mind.

Mvambi said Matuwane will now see a psychologist and a psychiatrist for these observations. Following these two consultations, only the psychiatrist will be able to advise on whether he should be admitted to the hospital for further evaluations or not.

This comes after power supplier, Centlec, turned the power supply off to about four surrounding areas late last night, so that the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) members would be able to successfully rescue him. Areas affected by the outage included Shannon, Mafora, Bloemside, parts of Turflaagte, Grassland lake view, Groenvlei and Heidedal. The outage lasted for about two hours until after Matuwane was successfully removed from the tower by paramedics. Matuwane was reported to have climbed the tower which is said to contain over 132 Kilovolts of line-power supply. Onlookers attempted to go up the tower, risking their own lives, in an attempt to save his life prior to the arrival of EMS staff on the scene. 

Spokesperson at Centlec, Lele Mamatu, said that it is a miracle that neither the man, nor the few residents who climbed the tower, got hurt as the tower had live and heavy currents which could have shocked anyone of them, at any time, thereby, instantly killing them. Mamatu further said that Centlec could not speculate on the man’s reasons for trying to take his life and said that information would now form the subject of police investigations. “What is of serious concern to us is that not only did he put his own life at risk, but also the rescue team as well, as removing him was a highy-risk process,” he said. He further commended the staff that took a risk and further appealed to members of the community not to attempt, under any circumstances, to access any of the electrical lines.

OFM News