Manor Gardens power crisis continues

RESIDENTS of Manor Gardens are at their wits’ end as lengthy power outages continue in their area.

A local resident, Max Horne told Berea Mail that he is experiencing weekly outages that last for 16 to 18 hours.

According to Horne, a recent outage lasted from 22:00 on Monday, May 22 until 18:00 on Tuesday, May 23. He added that this outage was followed by another lengthy stretch without electricity when power went out on Monday, May 28 at 22:00 until Tuesday, May 29 at about 13:30.

Also read: Frustration builds as power outages continue

“It’s frustrating that we have to live like this. We already have to plan our lives around load-shedding, and now we get power outages over and above this. We are left with no power for 16 to 18 hours – sometimes 24 hours. No one is being held accountable for this which is shocking. Who is doing anything about this? At the least, we need someone to investigate and put forward a timeline of when everything is going to be fixed,” said the resident.

Horne added that he recently moved into the area, thinking it would make life easier.
“We just moved from Amanzimtoti because we wanted to be closer to our childrens’ school. We thought it was going to be a better option, but it seems like the municipality here is not functioning,” said Horne.

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Not only do power outages impact daily chores, like cooking, but Horne said he is losing sleep over it.
“We have to wake up earlier to prepare food or plug in our devices. We also have to report faults constantly, and it impacts on mental health – we don’t sleep at night, we are anxious and we don’t know when the electricity will come back on again,” he said.

As the City shares a proposed tariff increase, Horne is calling for accountability and open communication from the City.
“It’s shocking that there is going to be a tariff increase – to do what with that money? We are going to pay more to get less. The municipality needs to come to the party and explain what the problem is and what the way forward is. We need them to communicate with us – not keep us in the dark,” concluded Horne.

The eThekwini Municipality was not available for comment at the time of going to press.

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