Blackouts leave Alrode workers jobless
Despite prolonged power outages, the City of Ekurhuleni has assured is it not conducting any load reduction.
Many businesses have been attempting to get back on their feet after lockdown and the rolling blackouts now hinder business even further, with some people losing their jobs
Businesses and the community are on the receiving end of blackouts caused by prolonged power outages and Eskom’s load-shedding.
In light of power outages plaguing businesses and household consumers, Alberton has been facing major power issues over the past months.
Alrode South businesses, the heart of the City of Ekurhuleni industrial area, had to endure power outages for years now – with little or no progress to resolve it.
Load-shedding feeds unemployment
Eskom’s load-shedding has now crippled businesses severely, leaving them with no choice but to either let their staff go or to down tools.
According to Carol Fourie, representing Arrow Branding and Arrow-Chem, they have lost many customers already.
“They don’t even want to come here anymore because we can’t meet their deadlines. We’ve been battling this fight for three years now. There is going to be a stage where Alrode South is not going to exist anymore and this keeps getting worse. Their schedules are not even on time, we eventually shut everything off. There’s a lack of communication and half of the time power goes off and nobody knows why,” said Fourie.
She said they recently had to let a number of their staff go due to how severely affected their business is.
Sharon Hayward of Ceramic Glass Print told the Alberton Record once their machinery stops working, a lot of money is lost.
Not only do blackouts affect the running of their business, but the group says their machinery takes a hard knock. With hefty fuel hikes underway, businesses using generators also cannot keep up.
Speaking for Creamer’s Lubrication Products, Cathy Austen said these outages also affect them terribly.
“When the power goes off, I can’t let our guys from Soweto go, as they must stick around and do some manual work so they don’t have to go back home. We last had repairers in and our last bill was about R8 000 to repair one machine because settings had gone out,” she said.
No feedback
Ward 94 Clr Samantha Nair has since escalated these power outage concerns to the head of the department in the city.
In a statement, she said every day a different suburb in Alberton is affected by power outages for a long period.
“After load-shedding, it takes hours before power is restored. The load-shedding schedules between Eskom and the council are not the same and also blocks are not applied as per the schedule. The incomer that was damaged three months ago is still not repaired. If this is repaired it could help in reducing and minimizing the power failures and outages in Alberton,” Nair said.
In a statement to the department, she reiterated that as councillors they do not get feedback from the department and that they are in turn insulted by residents.
The City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, confirmed to the Alberton Record that the city was not conducting any load reduction because Eskom is already implementing load-shedding.
