SEDIBENG. – The Democratic Alliance has asked for the intervention of the national government in dealing with the electricity crisis that Emfuleni residents are currently facing. The DA recently handed in a petition that has been signed by thousands of residents to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
The petition was signed by residents who have been without electricity for months and some for years due to faulty transformers and broken infrastructure in their areas. DA member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) Kingsol Chabalala told Sedibeng Ster that the DA held weekly meetings with residents from various areas.
“The turnaround time in fixing damaged transformers in our communities is taking too long. This occurs in places that get their power supply from Eskom as well as those who are supplied by the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM).
“This has resulted in the frustration of many residents who have been left without power in their respective areas, sometimes for years on end.”
During a recent National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Plenary meeting, Chabalala told Deputy President David Mabuza about the slow replacement and fixing of transformers in Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), saying that the turnaround time was not effective as some areas have now been without electricity for years.
Chabalala asked Mabuza commit to instructing Eskom to change their turnaround time to at least seven days. In response, Mabuza said that although he agreed, the continued damage to Eskom’s infrastructure is one of the factors which hinders Eskom from replacing transformers and other infrastructure on time.
During a recent interview with Sedibeng Ster , Chabalala said that they had since handed over the petition to the NCOP for their attention.
“We believe that because Eskom is a national competency, the NCOP is the best body to assist us with the issues that have been included in the petition. Our aim is for the NCOP to come to the Vaal and hear residents of ELM out about their electricity woes.”
Chabalala says that they hope this will be one of the first issues the NCOP deals with in the new year as it is already the end of the year.
