‘GATVOL’: No power, no water, no dignity

“No power means, no water and no dignity”. These are the words of Let’s Change Ba-Phalaborwa (LCBP), which says it is fed up with the continuous power outages in town. Their frustration led them, other stakeholders, and the community to demonstrate outside the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality offices on Friday, January 26. “When we don’t have power, water can’t be pumped from the reservoirs to the residents and when people cannot bath, it takes away their dignity.

“This is a human rights issue; we all have the water right,” said Rodger Ferguson from LCBP. Ferguson told the Herald that at times they go without electricity and water for days on end. On the day of the demonstration, the organisation met with the municipality and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) about the state of the electricity infrastructure. Ferguson said they have tried for years to engage the municipality about the ageing infrastructure, including a solution, but to no avail. As a result, in 2022, LCBP wrote to NERSA about the electricity challenges in Phalaborwa.

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After the regulator visited the area, they concluded that the municipality was in breach of its licence conditions and a forum should work out a corrective plan. According to Ferguson, when they called for meetings, the municipality either did not pitch or would send the wrong people to attend, hence they called another meeting with the two parties this year. “We believe NERSA has failed their authority as a national regulator; had they exercised their power we might have had better power supply and infrastructure by now.”

During the meeting, LCBP demanded a new, coherent, realistic, and integrated (into the IDP, and current and future budgets) plan. They asked for timelines that will address the total rehabilitation of the scheme, and the outsourcing to the private sector, its financing, and the operation to be included. They gave the parties 21 days to respond to their demands and if they do not receive a satisfying answer, they will take the parties to court. “AfriForum said it is prepared to pay the legal fees, as it believes we have a solid case,” added Ferguson.

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A spokesman for the municipality, Jonas Mahesu, said he cannot respond to the Herald’s inquiries as the management is working on the demands by LCBP. He said they will respond within 21 days. When going to print on Tuesday, NERSA had also not responded to the Herald’s inquiries. No power, no water, no dignity. The Alleged murderer of Namakgale woman was apprehended and in court