Randfontein not affected by load shedding, yet
... but, 'expect the best and prepare for the worst' — West Rand District Municipality
While the rest of the country is up in arms as to when powerhouse Eskom will cut the power supply, the herald can state that Randfontein is not affected by load shedding, yet.
According to West Rand District Municipality spokesperson Denis Mongope, “According to information we received Randfontein will not be affected by load shedding. However, we have requested a schedule from Eskom to see whether these areas will be affected in future.
“As soon as this information is released to us, we will let the public know.”
Mangope mentioned the municipality has received complaints from some residents of Randfontein and Westonaria, Greenhills, Culemborg Park, Mohlakeng and Toekomsrus.
The herald spoke to people in the Helikon Park as well as the Eikepark area who have experienced power cuts. Jan Kotzee, a Helikon Park resident has experienced load shedding so badly that a power surge damaged his DStv decoder.
Eikepark resident Carine Gouws had load shedding on Sunday 2 November and had to go to a local restaurant to eat as the inconvenience of these power cuts makes it impossible to cook.
In any event Randfontein and Westonaria residents should expect the best but prepare for the worst concerning load shedding.
According to Eskom spokesperson, Andrew Etzinger, a silo at Majuba Power Station in Mpumalanga collapsed and resulted in the loss of 10 000 tonnes of coal.
Subsequently, coal supplies in the entire station have been compromised leading to what is commonly known in South Africa as load shedding or power cuts.
Eskom has set up mobile coal conveyors since and restored a portion of the coal feed to the station. Etzinger states that the coal feed will be restored to the power station in the next few days. He says the mobile coal conveyors have improved the situation at the power station.
He says no load shedding has been planned during the day but evening power cuts around 6pm to 8pm will be the most likely cuts.
Randfontein Local Municipality mayoral spokesperson Lucky Chiya is yet to comment on the matter.
