According to a resident of Vrede Street in Fochville, he came home after a visit to friends and found a power surge had blown all the lights in the house. Other people in the area suffered the same fate, while residents in another part of Fochville had similar problems the previous day.
“If the lights had not blown, there was damage to the plugs and whatever was connected to them,” he complains.
Meanwhile, residents in a part of Aster Street also suffered thousands of rands worth of damage after suffering the same fate about a week later.
Residents claim the damage occurred while municipal electricians did work in their areas. The Herald asked the municipality whether it was aware of the problems and whether affected residents could claim from the municipal insurance.
A municipal spokesperson denied that the municipality was to blame, however. “The problems were due to Eskom load shedding and it is every citizen’s responsibility to claim from their insurance and not the municipality,” she says.