LIMPOPO – The community of Giyani stands to benefit from the new Eskom substation at the Bambeni village which was officially opened by Deputy Minister of Energy, Thembisile Majola, and Giyani Mayor, Sasavona Mathebula.
The substation, which has a capacity of 40MVA (132KV), is able to power up 20 000 households around the area.
This comes as a boost for the Greater Giyani Municipality which currently has an electricity backlog of more than 5 000 households.
“We hope that with this project in place we will be able to reduce that backlog,” Mathebula explained.
Meanwhile, according to Majola the existence of the project would help the government to power all the communities which would in turn help boost development within the area.
“What this project means is that we will be able to increase electrification for households. But more than that is that we would be able to support whatever industry is available in the area. It is important that we have a substation in this area so that we’re able to keep up with the electricity demand which comes with community growth and development”
The Bambeni community representative, Jeffrey Mchavi, welcomed the launch of the new substation in the village, also asking the deputy minister to help deal with cable theft which he explained was quite rife in the village.
“The situation is worse here as these thugs no longer steal cables alone, they also take down the electrical poles. We really need your intervention in this matter,” he said.
In response to this, the deputy minister urged the community of Bambeni to guard the substation against cable theft. “This infrastructure is yours and it is your responsibility to ensure that you safeguard it against cable thieves,” she said, adding that electricity and cable theft was now classified under economic crime which is punishable by a 15-year jail sentence. “Please report anyone you suspect of either dealing with stolen electricity or stealing electrical cables to the police,” she concluded.
