There recently was a letter in the Alberton Record newspaper complaining about the problems being caused by optic fibre cables being laid.
The initial problem was that the contractors kept damaging water pipes while digging the trenches and wasting enormous amounts of water. Now there are regular power outages because of it.
Starting (power cuts) from as early as 9am in the morning, with our power only being switched back on after 7pm at night, the residents have received no notification of this so we don’t know when it’s going to happen or for how long. This is not only incredibly frustrating for residents (whose domestic workers can’t get anything done during the day) but there are also schools and nursery schools in the area that are affected. It is also costing money in the ruined meats and dairy products that we have to throw away with our fridges being off for the entire day.
Residents of Brackenhurst’s power is just cut off at the whim of Ekurhuleni to accommodate the company that is laying the fibre optic cables. What about the trenches in the pavements being left open for weeks on end?
I have tried contacting Ekhuruleni to enquire, but they never seem to know what is going on.
-Geraldine Frank.
“A site visit was conducted by a safety officer in Alberton accompanied by the operations officer responsible on wayleaves to ensure that the water and sanitation services are protected.
The water leak has also been attended to.
The supervision and workmanship can best be answered by the client that appointed the contractor,” said Themba Gadebe, spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of the water leak but has not commented on the other issues by the time of going to print.
“Please note that the ongoing power outages in the area have been due to the energy department experiencing theft of fuses at minisubs. The department is continuing with installation of cameras as a security measure so that culprits may be identified and reported to the police,” said ward councillor for the area, Malcolm Maifala.
