HIGHVELD – Calm has been restored in eMbalenhle and eMzinoni after residents took to the street to protest over prolonged power outages.
Angry residents burned tyres and blocked the roads on separate days in these townships.
At some point police had to use force to disperse protesters in Extension 19.
The Govan Mbeki Municipality has since blamed these outages on the notified maximum demand implemented by Eskom, as well as illegal connections in these areas.
The council then embark in a operation of removing most of the illegal connection in both eMzinoni and eMbalenhle.
In the meanwhile, the electricity upgrades done by Bigen Africa have resumed in eMbalenhle.
Ms Thandi Ngxonono, executive mayor, held a site visit on Friday, 22 May to assess the progress of the project.
She urged the contractor to fast track the work as the municipality is under severe pressure.
“The project was suppose to be completed last October, so we are under severe pressure.
Residents are not happy, every night they group themselves together and they target properties to burn.
“Fortunately the SANDF who are here for Covid-19 are helping a lot to disperse them, otherwise we would have been in trouble.”
In eMzinoni some extensions are without electricity after a substation burned in Bethal.
Bigen Africa updated the mayor about the progress made so far and promised to work hard to ensure that the project is finished soon.
Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news
Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
