Ermelo Electricity crisis leads to showdown
Ermelo residents take a stand against poor service delivery.
Tempers flared in Ermelo on Friday as a large crowd of protesting residents gathered in front of the Msukaligwa Municipal offices in after a large section of the town had been without electricity since Wednesday afternoon. The power was only restored to most parts of town on Friday afternoon but water supply to many parts of the town had still not been restored.
Angry residents demanded to speak to either the municipal manager Mr. Zwelihle Shongwe or the executive mayor Mr Sipho Bongwe and demanded an explanation for the power outage that left businesses and private households with severe financial losses.
An attempt by Mr Bongwe to address the residents was abandoned when the situation became volatile and a scuffle broke out.
According to a statement released by the municipality on Thursday a high voltage cable fault was the initial cause of the problem. The reason for the lengthy outage has not been positively determined and accusations and counter accusations were being bandied about. At this stage it appears that the suspension of the towns electrical technicians due to questionable overtime claims was central to the debacle. This could however not be confirmed.
Read more on this story in this week’s Highvelder.
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