Solar panels were not the cause of the fire that engulfed Vodacom’s regional office in Century City on Sunday July 9, says company spokesman Byron Kennedy.
While the investigation into what caused the fire was still ongoing, it had ruled out early speculation that the solar panels were the primary cause of the blaze (Vodacom investigates fire at head office,” July 12, Tabletalk), he said.
That speculation had put solar power in a “bad light”, he said.
Instead, the investigation pointed to an electrical fault as the cause of the fire.
“We felt it prudent to place on record that the preliminary report by the forensic team has ruled out solar technology being the cause of the fire and that it was an electrical fault instead. Once the report is finalised, we will issue an updated statement in due course.”
The City of Cape Town’s media department referred all questions to Vodacom, which is doing its own investigations.
