Representatives of the Govan Mbeki Municipality told eMzinoni residents the municipality does not perform load-shedding but load-reduction.
This was said at a meeting with the community leaders who were protesting for electricity on Wednesday, May 11.
The meeting was held at the eMzinoni Police Station.
Tsepiso Maphuthu, director of Energy Services at GMM, said Ext 22 residents were experiencing electricity cuts because of a damaged cable at Bethal Mall. GMM was repairing the cable at the time.
Maphuthu said two years ago, Eskom gave the municipality a notified maximum demand of 18.72-kilovolt amperes (kVA) for both Bethal and eMzinoni. However, there are community members who do not buy electricity but steal it through illegal connections.
“The demand on the ground exceeds the municipality’s contracted NMD with Eskom. Previously, Eskom used to allow us to exceed our contracted NMD from 18.72 to 32 NMD then charge us penalties for exceeding.
“Eskom said it is a futile exercise to keep charging the municipality penalties when we cannot even afford the current account, because of the extra charges that increase the municipal debt.
“Eskom said it is better to keep us at the contracted 18.72 NMD and they continue with their load-shedding. We have been kept on that since 2019,” said Maphuthu.
He said Eskom wanted the municipality to use a prepaid electricity system so that the municipality first pay up before the NMD for Bethal and eMzinoni can be increased.
Maphuthu said the municipality paid R7m to Eskom, but then Eskom made a U-turn and demanded that the municipality first pay all its outstanding debt before the NMD can be increased.
Sibusiso Rasmeni, deputy director, said the Eskom load-shedding has a negative impact on the municipality’s electricity equipment because it has not been designed to be regularly switched on and off.
“When the electricity comes back after load-shedding, there are inrush currents when appliances such as geysers and stoves are plugged into electrical current.
“That is when our electricity cables and infrastructure are damaged and this is the reason we experience breakdowns after load-shedding,” explained Rasmeni.
Rasimeni said the municipality is in a process of building a 40MVA sub-station for the Bethal and eMzinoni residents that will be completed in two years’ time.
However, the residents at the meeting were not satisfied with the municipality’s explanations and Vusumuzi Mbokazi, MMC for Energy Services, eventually said he will take the community’s grievances to the mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma.
The residents were in an uproar about continuous electricity outages on Tuesday, May 10 and two people were wounded during a protest.
One has since been discharged from the hospital while the other is still in the hospital.
The police arrested and charged a 42-year-old with attempted murder.
At the same time, residents in eMbalenhle are also rising up against constant power outages.
Angry residents in Ward 12 demand electricity from the mayor on Thursday night, May 12.
The community arrived at a scheduled municipal budget meeting and refused to listen to the budget discussion.
They instead demanded electricity from Mayor Zuma and refused to let him leave before the power returned.
The mayor waited with the community until the electricians restored the electricity supply.
The community wanted Zuma to tell them when the power supply will again be stable.
