At around 15:30 on 20 January, the electricity suddenly went off in some streets in Carletonville Extension 9, like parts of Jacobs Street. At about 23:00 that evening, more streets in Exten-sion 8, like Usutu and Gamka streets and a part of Onyx Drive and Coronation Street went out. After many complaints to the Merafong City Local Municipality, the ward councillor, Mr Carlos Rebelo, determined early the next morning that the problems stemmed from the substation in Umfolozi Street being vandalised. Strangely enough, the culprits seem to have been surprised at the scene because they only drained the oil from the transformer but did not steal anything. When no municipal electricians had been there to attend to the problem by the next day, after dozens of pleas from the community, Rebelo called the new mayor, Ms Nozuko Best, for help. She contacted the mines, which arranged for some of their electricians to drive to Alberton to fetch the necessary oil for the transformer. They also helped to fix the problem. It was only because of their intervention that electricity was restored to the area by Saturday evening. “I appreciate the help from the mayor, who was at the substation for several hours to help. However, I am furious with the workers on duty who just bluntly refused to come and do their work,” says Rebelo. Through these problems, it emerged that the standby electricians refused to work because of a dispute between them and the municipality over the money allegedly owed to them for overtime in December. One of the electricians refused orders from his superior via WhatsApp to fix the transformer. Meanwhile, residents around Platinum Street in Carletonville were still without water after several water pipes broke in the street. Ratepayers in a part of Fochville were also stuck without electricity. These problems reportedly dragged on much longer than necessary because some municipal employees refused to work overtime. “The municipality has embarked on a process of reducing overtime, which has left some of the employees aggrieved. The issue has been cleared and addressed by senior management. All elements of ill- discipline will be attended to as and when required,” the municipal spokesperson answered, following questions on the matter.
