CoJ systems ridiculous – Toi

A Judith’s Paarl resident believes the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) systems to address some electricity-related problems is ridiculous and pointless.

Ms Natalie Toi said she was inconvenienced by damage caused by Joburg Water and had to wait about six months for someone to resolve the problem – which took only 15 minutes.

During that time, she was told she was connected to electricity illegally and was threatened with disconnection.

“In July there was a burst water pipe outside a house in Berea Road. Joburg Water attended to the problem on July 18. Workers dug up the whole section of the road. While doing this, they also dug up my power cable. They severed the entire cable, cutting all power supply to my house. There was no notice on my gate. I returned home that night to no electricity,” said Ms Toi.

She later found out what had happened and found the cable outside her house still live and smoking.

She said Joburg Water had not even cordoned off the huge hole, or alerted the public about the possible danger.

“At about 11pm that night, CoJ workers arrived and saw the problem. They connected me directly to the power supply, bypassing my prepaid meter. Two days later, CoJ returned and repaired the power cable. However, they did not reconnect me to my prepaid meter. They said they would have to order me a new prepaid meter as they did not have the password or code to reactivate my prepaid meter,” she said.

Ms Toi made several calls to the city’s call centre and was told the matter would be resolved.

“On January 21, a police officer and a technician from CoJ Booysens arrived at my house to disconnect my electricity. This was the same day, in another phone call, that I was told by the CoJ in Jorissen Street that a new prepaid meter was on order.

“The police officer and the technician said I had an illegal connection. They were not interested in my reference numbers as they said these held no relevance to CoJ Booysens. I was advised that the CoJ in Johannesburg has no technical personnel who are trained or capable of reconnecting a prepaid meter. They listened to my story and told me to be at the offices the following day. I went to CoJ Booysens and someone helped me,” said Ms Toi.

A technician visited Ms Toi on January 28 and within 15 minutes, her existing prepaid meter was working.

“The public needs to be made aware of how ridiculous and pointless the CoJ system is. The Jorissen Street and Booysens systems do not communicate and phoning the CoJ in Jorissen Street for a prepaid meter problem is a complete waste of time, as they do not have the personnel to attend to the problem. Booysens is the place to go to,” said Ms Toi.

The EXPRESS forwarded an enquiry to the CoJ, Joburg Water and City Power. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.