No power for a week … would you stay calm?
Angered residents of Finsbury, Kocksoord, Ten Acres, Middlevlei and Peace Haven gathered at the Finsbury Park last Thursday, January 12 to attend a meeting with regards to an electricity issue affecting them. One resident in the crowd (from Middelvlei) said they are using 25 litres of diesel an hour for their generator.
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“Why do we have to pay for power when there is no power?” he asked.
Theresa Kupper, another Middelvlei resident, said that this is a medical and legal hazard.
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“People are getting sick because there is no power or water. I have to bathe my grandchild in a basin and now he is getting a rash. These people [in charge] don’t care.”
The meeting also came with no solutions nor answers.
Chairperson of the Rural Safety Committee of Randfontein, JP de Beer, added that during the meeting, there was no feedback to his questions.
“We said in the previous meeting that a state of emergency must be declared and a case of theft and damage to infrastructure should be opened – this has never been done, so what must we do?”
De Beer added that in the previous meeting, everyone was told the same thing, ‘that it will take three to four weeks’.
“Nothing came out of this meeting, they are just trying to sweet-talk everyone. We have no feedback other than what we already had. Are they really doing all they can? I don’t think so, they don’t take it seriously.”
Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) spokesperson Phillip Montshiwa confirmed that the power outage in Finsbury, Ten Acres, Koksoord and Brandvlei is due to cable theft and the Lafarge transformer and Finsbury substation burned as a result of the theft.
“Yes the affected communities are without electricity and the municipality is working around the clock to find the solution. Work will start on Monday [today, January 16] but the project will take four weeks. We did communicate with the communities regarding the aforementioned,” stated Phillip.
In a statement released by the municipality on January 9, it said that due to the size of the damage at the Finsbury substation, it will take a considerable amount of time to repair the substation as it’s completely destroyed.
Phillip added the damage follows the explosion of the substation due to cable theft at the substation on Friday, January 6 during load-shedding.
“Damage is estimated into millions of rands. The municipality is currently sourcing materials needed of which some must be shipped from abroad. We are not able to commit as to when the repair job and reconnection will be done given the nature of material needed. Our technicians are working around the clock to find temporary solutions to this problem. We appeal to the communities to be patient as we are committed to resolve the problem,” concluded Phillip.
