Power outages continue to plague city

Rain, outdated infrastructure and lack of planning are once again to blame for continuous sporadic power outages throughout Benoni.

Whether isolated or large-scale, residents in Rynfield, Northmead, Farrarmere, Goedeburg, Brentwood Park and Mackenzie Park have been left seething following interruptions in service, since mid-December.

While some outages were tended to timeously, isolated interruptions saw residents in Brentwood Park and Goedeburg spending Christmas and New Year in the dark, due to a fault that took over 100 hours to isolate.

Speaking to the Benoni City Times, following yet another series of outages in Northmead and Rynfield from January 12 to 14, Ward 27 Clr Lornette Joseph says that despite their best efforts, a lack of communication from the CoE, as well as poor planning are some of the leading factors that left 1 000 residents in the dark.

“To put matters into perspective, the Benoni electricity department consists out of 12 teams of approximately six individuals each,” said Joseph.

“Team members comprise of junior level employees meaning that there are not fully accredited electricians available for each team.

“Further to this and in accordance to the basic conditions of employment, provision is only made for 40 hours overtime per member per month.”

She continues by saying that during the festive period, only one team was available to attend to outages throughout the entire city and at the time, the team had already reached the 40-hour cap.

“It has been absolute hell for our residents but after applying significant pressure, the department’s divisional head and city manager made an additional 20 hours available and a secondary team was deployed,” she said.

“Despite faults being identified, repaired and the power restored, these are all temporary fixes. Our infrastructure is failing and there is seemingly no concrete solution as budgetary constraints continue to throttle service delivery.”

Explaining the role of councillors, their level of capabilities as well as the processes that need to be followed, Joseph says that councillors do not have all-access passes to the city’s utilities.

“We strongly rely on the chain of command to ensure that teams are dispatched to affected areas and that those on the ground supply us with detailed periodic updates regarding the measures taken to restore services,” said Joseph.

“The December outages sent tempers flaring. A further breakdown in communication resulted in community members becoming enraged. Since then the department has committed to supplying councillors with regular updates to ensure that residents remain up to date with progress.”

She highlighted the fact that by the CoE’s service level agreement (SLA), turnaround time is set at 24 to 48 hours from the time that the complaint had been logged and a reference number allocated.

Complaints can be logged via the metro’s call centre, My Ekurhuleni mobile app or the Siyakhoka WhatsApp channel.

What to do once a service delivery complaint has been logged?

Joseph explains how complaints relayed to councillors are addressed.
• Once reported, residents are urged to share the reference number as well as the physical address with the relevant ward councillor.

• Complaints can only be escalated 24 hours after it had been logged.
“In line with the SLA, we are only permitted to escalate complaints following the 24-hour timeframe. However, in the case of large-scale outages, the matter is reported to the chief engineer immediately,” she said.

“The city’s councillors are all on dedicated WhatsApp groups for every department. The key officials form part of these groups which ideally streamline the reporting process and create a platform for updates.”

Should the matters not be attended to, it is then escalated to the division head followed by the HOD, MMC and finally the city manager.

Joseph said that residents should further note that in terms of the Municipal Act, councillors are not permitted on sites where restoration operations are underway, nor may they interrupt operations.

“Considering the safety and protection of the teams on the ground, we do not pinpoint the locations where work is being conducted,” she said.

“Teams are often subjected to verbal abuse and threats from frustrated residents which affects the turnaround time. Interruptions could potentially hamper workflow, lead to further faults and even injury.”

Highlighting the fact that there does not seem to be a miracle solution to ongoing power outages, Joseph concluded by saying that using the correct avenues and applying pressure on the current leadership has the potential to prompt more effective service delivery.

“There is a digital as well as a physical petition available and we urge residents and businesses to add their names to it,” she said.

“If we garner enough signatures we have the authority to not only take the complaints to the council chambers but provincially as well as nationally. We can only take a stand with the full support of our communities.”

To report any service delivery-related matters call the CCC on 0860 543 000 or send ‘Hey Siyakhokha’ via WhatsApp on 060 667 7177.

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