Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) promised to reconnect Finsbury, Middelvlei and Ten Acres after residents had taken their grievances right to the municipality’s doorstep on Wednesday January 19.
These areas have been without electricity since Saturday January 15.
According to Hannes Ernst, manager of the Electrical Department at RWCLM, a transformer was damaged when lightning struck Lafarge Substation – where the areas were connected.
However, angry and frustrated residents claimed there had been no communication from the municipality as to what they were doing about their dilemma. During their peaceful protest, they met Ernst and the MMC for Water, Sanitation and Electricity, Jeje Legoete, as representatives of RWCLM.
Residents complained to the officials that they felt neglected, and demanded that the situation be treated as a matter of urgency, adding that they were being treated unfairly as they too pay rates and taxes in full every month.
You (RWCLM) have to make sure money is put aside for when things like this happen. We didn’t have to come here in the first place. You (RWCLM) are supposed to keep the public updated and informed on how you are managing the situation, but this is not the case,” said resident Thabo Mosele.
Another angry resident, Dipuo Mokopanele, said the situation was exacerbated by the fact that councillors weren’t doing their job of supporting people on the ground.
“Politicians talk instead, and everyone has come and gone with empty promises. Right now we’re supposed to pay rates and taxes of between R3 000 and R4 000 for services that aren’t even rendered to us,” Mokopanele complained.
In his response Ernst explained that Finsbury used to be connected on the Westergloor Substation which is six kilometres away, but the substation had been targeted severely by cable thieves.
We then decided to connect to Lafarge which is closer and has more security,” Ernst said.
However, in the early hours of Saturday morning (January 15) lightning struck the substation, ultimately damaging the transformer, which would take about three months to replace.
He continued to explain that while the residents were reconnected to the Westergloor Substation temporarily, technicians discovered that cables had been dug up and the holes sealed, which made it difficult to find the sections where cables were missing.
“We’re talking about 30 sections where thieves had removed five to ten metres of the cable but we’re going to try our best,” Ernst said.
MMC Legoete apologised to residents having to suffer as a result, and admitted that the cables at Lafarge Substation had not been given enough security for protection.
We’ve learnt from our mistakes and we’ll ensure that by midnight (January 19) electricity will be restored. We will also ensure that the municipality’s assets are protected so that people don’t suffer,” Legoete said.
