DA to inspect ‘failing’ substations

Last week, several areas in the metro, including the whole of Brakpan, Witpoortjie Ridge and Impala Park were without power for 24 hours and three days respectively.

This week, the DA will tour Brakpan’s main substation and all the mini-stations in the area to better understand the cause of the power failures and be in a position to make recommendations to council to ensure urgent attention is given to fixing the power supply problems.

“In a country facing an electricity crisis under the constant threat of load shedding, it is imperative that the metro properly maintains its power supply to avoid weakening an already-aged system,” said DA councillor Jackie Reilly.

“Power failures are all too common throughout the metro, with lack of maintenance and cable theft being the two main causes of areas being left powerless for hours, and even days, on end.

“It is disgraceful that the metro charges for a service that isn’t reliable and leaves residents and businesses with little choice other than to spend vast sums of money on their own generators and the fuel needed to power them.”

Reilly acknowledged that, during this latest power crisis, the metro’s officials were forthcoming with information.

“These officials, however, have their normal jobs to do and should not have to be providing feedback on faults,” she said.

“This is the job of the notorious call centre, which fails to communicate effectively with residents, leaving councillors and staff to field hundreds of calls.

“With the advent of winter and the probability of official load shedding by Eskom, the metro is obliged to ensure that it does not add to these problems for residents.”