After-hours trouble at municipality?
'We were told the after hours service was stopped' — resident.
The Randfontein Local Municipality dismissed allegations about the after-hours service not being available – this after a resident claimed he could not get through on their after-hours number on several occasions.
Concerned resident Riaan van der Merwe came forward saying, “We pay for services [at the Randfontein Local Municipality] and if we miss one payment we get disconnected, but when it’s their fault we have to suffer.”
Van der Merwe stated he had a power failure at his home in Convent Street, Greenhills on Friday 22 May at approximately 6:20pm. He said it had happened twice in the week before due to local issues and not Eskom load shedding.
Van der Merwe allegedly called the Randfontein Local Municipality after-hours number but no-one answered. He then called the Krugersdorp Emergency Centre (107).
“The phone remained unanswered for minutes at a time and after 20 minutes of phoning, they answered. After explaining the problem, we were told no standby electricians were available and they would attend to the problem on Monday.
“This is not acceptable and after speaking to the supervisor, we were told again that no staff was available and that the after hours service was stopped because the guys worked too much overtime.”
Van der Merwe eventually contacted Evert du Plessis, a Randfontein DA ward councillor and chairperson for the DA West Rand, who returned his call and said the head of Electrical Engineering would send an electrician to fix the problem.
According to Hannes Ernst, head of Electrical Engineering at the Randfontein Local Municipality, Du Plessis did contact him on Saturday (24 May) at approximately 7pm indicating that there was an issue with electricity and a few houses were without electricity. “I did reply that I did not have someone available immediately and that I would try my best to send someone early the next morning.
“At approximately 8:38am the next morning, Du Plessis sent me another SMS asking how far my guys were with sorting out the complaint. I indicated that I had managed to get hold of my operator and he was on his way to attend to the problem. My operator only managed to restore the electricity to the area one and a half hours later because the circuit breaker had a loose connection and had to be changed inside the substation.”
Tshediso Tlharipe, spokesperson for the Randfontein Local Municipality commented, “There is no issue with after hours. We have told all departments they have to manage their overtime because we are trying to cut costs as a result of paying our Eskom debt. The number for after-hours electricity emergencies and the one for water emergencies can be used. All calls will be answered.”
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