BETHAL – Mr Benzi Soko, municipal spokesman, sent a statement to Ridge Times which was issued by the GMM management communications unit.
He said the electricity challenges affecting Bethal and eMzinoni are a cause for serious concern for the leadership and management of the Govan Mbeki Municipality.
“The current administration has put in place clear plans to deal with this electricity situation that has been an elephant in the room for many years,” said Mr Soko
He said the current administration is determined to challenge the issue of the Notified Maximum Demand (NMD) which is a fundamental reason for the current situation of power failures and outages in Bethal and eMzinoni.
“GMM and Eskom are negotiating a repayment plan that will be acceptable to both parties going forward, with clear terms of reference.”
Mr Soko claims the electricity issue is a historical problem which dates back to the Apartheid era.
“It was the former Apartheid rulers who allocated the supply of electricity using racial spectacles with white areas receiving the huge chunk. In order to put this matter into a correct perspective, it should be frankly mentioned that the current electricity challenges are as a result of the legacy of the Apartheid system that’s infrastructural planning and allocation of resources was based on the policy of racial exclusivity and separate development. It is through these historical facts that the issue of the Notified Maximum Demand should be correctly located.”
He said the NMD of Bethal and eMzinoni is still based on the data of the past.
“This segregated allocation applies across the board in all towns and townships because of Apartheid thinking.”
He went on saying that this argument is informed by the fact that Eskom is still supplying electricity using the Apartheid planning organogram of Separate Development which fails to take into cognisance the fact that spatial planning of the new dispensation has drastically changed in line with the population growth over the years. The disjuncture of the NMD is a serious anomaly that the government of the day must address and correct once and for all.
“In this instance, the Apartheid town planners naively gave Bethal town and Secunda a huge NMD against a small amount given to eMzinoni and eMbalenhle respectively.”
The Ridge Times asked Mr Soko how the municipality feels in regards to the community of Bethal wanting to take legal action against GMM.
Also read: Bethal and eMzinoni residents take legal action against Govan Mbeki Municipality
He said the community has a constitutional right to take any government entity to court in search of legal solace for their frustrations.
“The municipality will not stop people from taking legal action against it because that would be a violation of their rights which are protected by law and the constitution.
“It should be stated however, that the electricity situation is affecting all and sundry, including GMM employees and finding a permanent solution will be a welcome development.”
Municipal manager, Mr Felani Mndebele, told eNCA reporter Mr Graeme Raubenheimer he understands the Bethal-situation as he also resides in Bethal.
Mr Mndebele mentioned to eNCA that R12-million have been allocated for the upgrade the town’s electric network.
The Ridge Times asked as to when the community can expect the upgrades to begin and how the R12-million will be allocated.
“The municipality has set aside R10-million from other votes as a strategic intervention aimed at dealing with the electricity challenges in Bethal and eMzinoni. The Gert Sibande District Municipality has contributed R2-million as assistance to expedite the process of fixing the electricity challenges. The municipality is involved in on-going engagements with Eskom which are aimed at finding a win-win-solution to this challenge and we hope these engagements will yield positive outcomes.”
According to Mr Soko, GMM’s Master Plan for Energy can resolve the electricity challenges with the needed funding.
He once again repeated that the implementation of rotational load shedding is due to the Eskom NMD.
Bethal, eMzinoni and eMbalenhle are exceeding their NMD, thus load shedding is currently being implemented to deal with the existing shortage of capacity and people stealing from the already constrained power grid. Eskom informed the municipality on 10 December that it was limiting the municipal NMD on all points of supply.
This decision meant that the municipality would be implementing partial rotational load shedding in the above towns where necessary.
Realising the challenges brought about by the limit of the NMD, an application for the relaxation of the NMD in Bethal, eMzinoni and eMbalenhle was made to Eskom to increase the NMD, but was rejected.
“The municipality has put in place short-term interventions to the electricity challenges by continuing with Operation Ruthula of disconnecting households and businesses that are stealing electricity through illegal connections. “For a long-term plan for Bethal and eMzinoni, the municipality will be upgrading and increasing the electricity load so as to meet the demand of the current population.
“The major cause of these electricity outages are the illegal electricity connections which cause the network to overload and in the process, causing serious damages to transformers because the demand exceeds the supply. The municipality is making a clarion call to all residents and businesses to refrain from stealing electricity as this has a devastating effect on the capability of the institution to supply power in a consistent, effective and efficient manner,” ended Mr Soko.
Mr Ziyaad Dangor, media spokesperson for the Bethal & eMzinoni Community for Service Association, the newly formed community organisation who aims to take GMM to court, said some people are making accusations and assumptions that the committee members are in the fight to win over tenders, or seeking positions as Ward councillors.
“This committee is non-political, we are residents and businesses owners who are fighting for the basic services,” said Mr Dangor.
He said the committee will do whatever they can to put an end to poor service delivery and the current electricity issues.
The Bethal & eMzononi Community for Services Association had a productive work session with their lawyer from MacRobert last week, and has a clear strategy in going forward.
The administrative process to formally register their Association is in an advanced stage.
The registration is important as this will help in the opening of a community bank account. Bank details will soon be sent out to residents.
Residents are urged to remain calm under these immensely trying times and to know that this is going to be a long process.
Community members are thanked for their support and messages of encouragement.
If you want to know more about the Bethal & eMzinoni Community for Service Association, you can join their Facebook page or WhatsApp-group Bethal Plan of Action Group at 076 839 3834.
Also read: Bethal still go through dark days
