BETHAL – Residents are sick and tired of being without electricity for up to eight hours a day.
Ridge Times reported in previous articles about the electricity issues in this area.
Bethal and eMzinoni are experiencing load shedding because Eskom’s transformers are set to a maximum demand for the municipality and if this maximum demand of power supply is exceeded, load shedding kicks in.
Lives are at stake, because numerous residents are dependent on oxygen machines which operate on electricity.
Also read: Bethal and eMzinoni residents want answers about their electricity
Although some oxygen machines can also work with batteries, these power sources can last only a limited time before having to be recharged.
One such a patient is Lizette Neveling.
This 12-year-old suffers from cystic fibrosis. Electricity is needed for her oxygen machine, as well as a machine that helps Lizette with feeding, because she cannot eat normally.
The electricity in the area where Lizette lives was off for three days last week.
“It came on for about an hour and then went off again,” said Ms Johanna Lombard, Lizette’s grandmother.
“We are so worried about Lizette when the electricity goes off all the time.”
The family has an oxygen cylinder bottle that Lizette can use during the night, but the oxygen cylinder is actually for emergencies and should last about a month.
However, it now only lasts about a week because Lizette needs to use it as a back up all the time.
“The company, from which we receive the oxygen cylinder, cannot give us more than one bottle per month.”
“My husband and I have to drive around in Bethal and see where we can find another bottle for Lizette.”
Lizette also has a back up oxygen pack that needs to be charged and can only last about two hours.
The family recently received a generator that was sponsored specifically for Lizette for when the power goes off, but the family simply cannot afford to daily fuel the generator.
Ms Lombard said Lizette recently turned blue in the face for lack of oxygen due to the power outages.
The community approached Mr Muhammed Bhyat, owner of the N17 Sasol Service Station in Bethal and the Sasol Bethal Service Station and he decided to sponsor the Neveling family’s fuel to keep the generator running for Lizette for June.
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Other parents complained that their children cannot do their school work if there is no electricity.
Another resident questioned the Govan Mbeki Municipality’s logic behind the whole electricity debacle.
He claimed that the street light in front of his house which had been out of order for 16 years, is now suddenly working.
He said the street lights were fixed on a Sunday, probably so that the workers can receive double overtime payment for working on a Sunday.
Also read: GMM budgets millions to tackle power problems
Also read: Elderly suffer because of load shedding in Bethal
