Leaning electricity poles in Marister are “an accident waiting to happen” and have been for close to 20 years with a power surge of 11 000 volts lying in wait for a victim, said local resident Alex Vowles.
Vowles brought the issue to the attention of the City Times when, he alleges, a tree trimming in the area was scheduled to take place (by the Ekurhuleni metro).
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The trees, he said, are situated around high tension (HT) lines that are in close proximity to properties.
He further alleged a tree trimming was last completed over 12 years ago.
In an email addressed to an Ekurhuleni employee, Vowles states the following:
“As can clearly be seen (photos were supplied to the employee) all the poles are seriously leaning away from the road and into the adjacent property.
“In all cases, the lean is such that one of the HT lines overhangs the private properties and is not over the road reserve.
“This is very dangerous.
“Should the line break, which has happened before, it will fall over a fence.
“Should or when that happens, all the fences in the block enclosed by Esther Road, Eike Avenue, Purchase Road and Skool Street will be electrified with 11 000 volts.
“Anyone or any animal touching a fence will end up dead.”
Vowles told the City Times around 15 or 20 years ago, one of the HT lines broke and, as the electricity poles were leaning into the properties away from the road, the line fell onto a wire fence.
“As most of the properties have steel or wire fences and most join on a common steel pole or dropper, most of the area, if not the whole area, had electric fences,” explained Vowles.
“The result was that if anyone or any animal touched the 11 000-volt fence they would be dead or would receive a severe shock.
“I saw, first-hand, a small white dog in the fence on Esther Road and a cat on the fence, both dead.
“Next time it may well be people who are dead.
“One cannot say it will not or cannot happen because it has happened before.
“A very long time ago Eskom was the (immediate) electricity provider.
“The day Eskom arrived to dig holes to plant the electricity poles I saw them making holes that were about 800mm from the property fences.
“I queried it and asked the foreman to move the pole at least three metres from the fence, where it should be.
“The foreman told me there were too many trees and they could not take them out.
“The pylons had to be where they were planting them or in the middle of the road.
“Two or three years ago I met with the Ekurhuleni employee my email was addressed to on site.
“I pointed out the problem to him and requested the electricity poles be moved three metres from the fence.
“On inspection, the employee pointed out the trees and said there was no budget to move the trees or widen the road.
“I agreed I would arrange to remove the trees from the north end of Esther Road and widen the road.
“This was done in conjunction with another property owner at our personal expense.
“I am quite sure this remains unresolved due to budgetary constraints rather than negligence of any sort, but this is now an issue and is serious.
“We cannot wait until something very bad happens and then be sorry.”
The City Times is awaiting comment from the metro
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