Conference leaves suburbs fuming

ANC delegates from across Gauteng descended on the city from June 24 to host its 14th provincial conference which saw a tight race for the leadership position between Panyaza Lesufi and Lebogang Maile.

However, residents of Western Extension and Lakefield, which borders The Lakes Hotel and Conference Centre where the weekend long conference was held, have been left unimpressed by the state in which the more than 1000 delegates and supporters left the suburbs.

According to Ward 28 Clr Mary Goby, initial planning for the conference would have seen the parts of Lakefield Road as well as the entire Divot Street being closed to the public for the duration of the conference.

This would have prevented the public from accessing the Benoni Lake Country Club, Country Lake Estate as well as the Benoni Tennis Headquarters.

Objections however resulted in the lower part of Railway Avenue being closed, where a security check point was set up for delegates, which would then make use of the road and from there entering Divot Street.

“With the matter of traffic sorted out, I was under the impression that everything else would be smooth sailing,” said Goby.

“However when delegates arrived, the area surrounding the hotel was transcended into chaos.

People were drinking and partying in the streets.

“Vendors were selling their goods on side of Lakefield Road, hampering the flow of traffic and people were dumping litter, including empty bottles of expensive alcohol in nearby storm water drains.”

The litter has since been cleared by the Litterbugs initiative and recyclables have been handed in for recycling.

To further aggravate the situation experienced by residents, a large area was dumped into darkness on June 25.

Areas included Western Extensions, Lakefield, Farrarmere and Alphen Park.

Power was restored to Lakefield and parts of Western Extension on June 27, with the remaining streets in Western Extension being returned later the afternoon.

While visiting the designated security check-point with Goby and Ward 73 PR Clr Jordan Lotriet, the City Times found employees from the Ekurhuleni Metro’s energy department removing a high voltage power cable from the site.

According to one of the employees, who wished to remain anonymous, they were ordered to supply power to the check-point throughout the weekend and that it was plugged in at a nearby power pole.

When questioned whether the connection and the subsequent load it placed on the grid may have been responsible for the extended outage, he merely smiled and answered that he doesn’t know.

“We have been battling the entire weekend to get hold of technicians for feedback regarding the outage and no one was forthcoming with information,” said Goby.

“Some residents were without power for more than 40 hours, my only conclusion is that this irregular connection may have been responsible for the power interruption.”

Residents living in six houses directly opposite the check-point confirmed that they, as well as the site used by security personnel and the SAPS, had power the entire weekend and that the only interruption was during scheduled load-shedding.

“One has to ask how six houses and a pop-up security site be completely unaffected by a large scale electrical outage,” said Lotriet.

At the time of publication, no comment had been received from the metro.

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