Municipal manager’s Facebook page was buzzing over the previous weekend with many areas experiencing power and water outages in turn over the entire weekend.
Theo van Vuuren’s Facebook page was active over the weekend with regular updates and many residents did appreciate the feedback but many were also expressing their intense frustration.
It started on January 20 with the following post,
“Electricity update: the electrical dept is aware of the power outages in all areas. The teams are at all areas affected and are working to restore power. Thank you.”
Later that day they posted another vague message,
“Electricity update: The teams are at present working to restore power in large parts of the city. We will keep you informed of progress as soon as it becomes available.”
The power outages lasted for over 12 hours as reported by some residents. The power was eventually restored late on Friday evening in some areas but this seemed to be just the beginning. On Saturday morning the Facebook page reported that there was a cable that blew at the Doornpoort substation. Reyno Ridge, Klipfontein, and Ben Fleur are just some of the many areas that were affected. This news came after maintenance was apparently done at that exact substation earlier in the week.
Areas were still reporting water and power outages on Sunday afternoon. The water outages was also a combination of the pumps not running because of the lack of power and burst water pipes supplying water to key areas.
Residents are encouraged not to fill their JoJo tanks until all the areas have restored water.
“Water outage: Burst bulk supply line (450mm diameter) at Churchill Street ext 5 has been isolated and will affect water supply to the following areas: Witbank CBD, Witbank ext 1 – 12, Del Judor extensions, portion of Die Heuwel Proper, Die Heuwel ext 8.”
The disruptions were unusual even for eMalahleni standards and an apology was issued that read as follows,
“I apologise on behalf of my office for the unacceptable situation with a variety of problems. Although we are facing a range of issues which could not all have been prevented I am not satisfied with how these matters are managed and are intervening. In respect of electricity we should soon have relief but the water situation is not yet stable. As soon as I can get better answers it will be provided.”
The residents of eMalahleni seemed to pin all their penned up frustration on this post with over 100 comments many harsh words were said.
“Apologies not accepted! I am definitely not “understanding” or “patient”! The only thing I currently understand is the complete uselessness of this municipal (mal) administration!” reads one post.
On Tuesday January 24 areas such as Ben Fleur were still sitting without uninterrupted power and water.
Municipal manager Theo van Vuuren did respond to the WITBANK NEWS when asked for comment on the matter,
“The Director and his team are full time working on restoring the problem although the unfortunate part on a water system is that lead times are long, unlike with electricity. Water tankers are being deployed to strategic areas. Should you need specific support to an area please provide the area name here so that the Facebook Administrators can inform the team.”
He added that the electricity outage is due to lightning damage in the statement issued on Monday January 23.
In an interview with the WITBANK NEWS on the same day he said,
“I am well aware of all the problems in and around eMalahleni especially with the range of problems that occurred during the previous week. But the residents can not put all the blame on the municipality as there sometimes occur technical difficulties that sets us back.. It is not like I am sitting in my office banging on the pipes and cutting electrical cables to make things worse. What I can present to the community is to change their negative propaganda towards us.”
Regardless of the cause it seems that the problems eMalahleni residents have been experiencing for years will not be going away soon.
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