ANOTHER serious power outage hit residents and businesses in and around the Alberton CBD on Monday August 11, causing huge losses in revenue for businesses as well as residents and enormous expenses for the Metro.
Once again the Ward Councillor Bruna Haipel had to bear the brunt of the residents’ indignation, not only because of the inconvenience caused, but also because of the lack of information from the call centre.
“From a visit to the area in question, it can only be surmised that it was on Sunday afternoon that vandals knocked a hole into the security wall which surrounds the Truida Street substation, entered into the area behind the three transformers and vandalised transformer number one by stealing brass pipes, which kept the oil circulating in the transformer as these are oil-cooled.” said Councillor Haipel.
Between August 10 and August 11, the oil dripped out of the cooling system and at about midday on August 11, the transformer failed, leaving Southcrest, Alberton North, Florentia, Verwoerd Park, the CBD and New Redruth once again without power.
Despite the fact that the electricity department was notified immediately and hastened to the scene, the damage was severe and technicians worked through the night and the whole of the following day to repair the damage.
Social media
The Alberton REKORD Facebook page received a multitude of comments and complaints on the power outage. The RECORD compiled a document with some of these comments and asked for EMM’s feedback.
One resident commented on the oil dripping from the transformer and that it is an indication that maintenance is not being done.
EMM spokesperson Themba Gadebe replied in the press release: “We wish to assure residents that our maintenance schedule is up to date. The Truida substation is generally in a good condition, because last year we have overhauled the substation and brought it back to new life.”
Power outages such as these unfortunately provoke extreme reactions from some members of the public. Cllr Haipel would like to suggest that this indignation be put to good use by heightening the public’s awareness of crime and reporting any suspicious event either to the police, their CPF or CBI (the security company for EMM in Alberton, Willem 0828773889).
SAPS/CPF Contact
Sector 1 Manager Sgt. Eddie Mongale 072 301 1537
Sector 2 Manager W/O Thomas Ngobeni 082 799 0917
Sector 3 Manager Sgt Thangwane 076 635 5305
