Eskom is taking its power interruptions a step further.
From March 3 residents will have to make do without electricity from 06:00 to 09:00 and 16:00 to 19:30 on weekdays and on weekends between 08:30 to 12:00 and 15:00 to 18:30.
Municipal Manager, Mr Theo van Vuuren told WITBANK NEWS on Tuesday, February 21, the municipality served a dispute in terms of the intergovernmental relations framework on Eskom.
They argue that Eskom’s power cuts have a severe impact on the water distribution in the city.
The municipality asked the power utility to look at the impact the power cuts have on pumping water and the purification works.
“We are losing a fifth of our purification capacity daily at this stage and the high towers are running dry with no sufficient recovery time between interruptions. The teams are trying to manage this as best they can. Prior to the interruptions we discussed this consequence with Eskom and in principle they agreed. Our technical teams did reach a solution whereby the electricity to the pump stations and water works can be retained. However, Eskom indicated that the lines can not be totally isolated as some residents, feeding from the same line, will still have electricity and therefore they refused to isolate the line feeding the waterworks,” said Mr Kingdom Mabuza, municipal spokesperson.
The municipality scrambled this past week to source funds to pay Eskom an owed R277-million, but has only R30-million thus far.
Mr Vance van Rooyen, Emalahleni Traffic Department, directs traffic on Tuesday February 21 just after the scheduled electricity interruption. Traffic officers are to be stationed at major intersections during these interruptions.
Amongst others they ought to have a guarantee for Eskom for money from the sale of land soon and the Department of Public Works is slowly coughing up money it owes the municipality.
The municipality took a bold step and switched off various departments that fall under Public Works. They cut off electricity to the Piet Koornhof Building, Witbank Magistrate Court and several schools.
“We refrained from cutting electricity to local police stations and Paxton Correctional Service as we see them as high priority entities,”
“Payment rates from government departments improved after switching them off. In respect of businesses and other customers, payments did pick up and should this get momentum we will in this coming week be in a much better position.
“Our efforts to mobilise additional bulk funding are also set to reach a conclusion over the next two days,” said Mabuza.
Another point of concern is the impact the power cuts have on hospitals.
Local healthcare facilities such as De La Vie Day Hospital, eMalahleni Private Hospital, eMalahleni Day Hospital, Highveld Eye Hospital, M Care Highveld Sub Acute, Life Cosmos Hospital, Anglo Coal Highveld, Eden Park and Witbank Hospital are all affected.
The Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa) said on Friday, February 18 that it was gravely concerned by Eskom’s decision to implement power cuts.
“All private hospitals are currently operating on generators to ensure a consistent power supply and that their services are uninterrupted. Hasa cannot comment on the situation at public sector hospitals,” Ms Kerry Simpson, Public Relations Account Director at Bespoke Strategic Communications said on behalf of Hasa.
On Tuesday, February 21 Lizelle Steyn (Caucus Chairperson) and Jane Sithole (Provincial Chairperson) from the Democratic Alliance visited Witbank SAPS and again laid another charge against Municipal Manager, Mr Theo van Vuuren and Executive Mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali.
She said all hospitals operate on a two tiered system of power supply. The first being the power grid, and the second being generators. When in generator mode, hospitals are relying on a single tier of power. Private hospitals routinely prepare for such eventualities through stringent maintenance of generators and stocking of fuel but the situation is clearly not desirable and the municipality and Eskom are urged to find ways to resolve the impasse so that none of the healthcare requirements of the residents of eMalahleni are jeopardised.
From Eskom’s side they are unmoved and continue to interupt power supply to eMalahleni.
Eskom Group Executive for Customer Services Ayanda Noah said,
“The interruption of supply as a result of non-payment remains an agonising decision for Eskom and is a means of last resort. We hope the municipalities will come up with a sustainable payment plan and thus avert further interruptions for its citizens.”
Eskom said they are using the softer approach,
“In spite of the fact that both the provisions of the Electricity Regulation Act 4 of 2006 and supply agreements, with the municipalities, empower Eskom to disconnect electricity completely, Eskom has opted for a softer approach of interrupting electricity during certain hours of the day.”
On Tuesday, February 21, Lizelle Steyn (Caucus Chairperson) and Jane Sithole (Provincial Chairperson) from the Democratic Alliance visited Witbank SAPS and again laid another charge against Municipal Manager, Mr Theo van Vuuren and Executive Mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali.
“The municipality has clearly not maintained an effective, efficient and transparent system of risk management. If this system was working, surely it would have identified the risks associated with not paying off Eskom debt. The multiple risks associated with owing a billion rand to any creditor should have been flagged by the risk management unit,” Sithole said.
The charges fall under the wings of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). According to Sithole the systems that have failed in Emalahleni are a direct result of Van Vuuren failing to execute his duties as per the prescripts of the MFMA.
The community is fed up and one can clearly see comments from the public under the Facebook page ‘Emalahleni Residents against Emalahleni Municipality’ that everyone shares the same grievance about Eskom and the municipality.
“How many small businesses are going to shut down due to these bulk interruptions? A city with seven power stations and producing the electricity for the country but has no electricity itself. Ironic indeed,” voiced Mr Boitumelo Madiba, creator of the Facebook page.
He said they are planning a mass meeting on Thursday, February 23 to lead the way forward.
“We want interventions from local government, Eskom, the premier’s office and the leadership of the local municipality. Therefore we invite the municipal manager and the mayor to be present when we have the meeting on Thursday, February 23 at Puma Stadium at 17:00 for 17:30.”
Madiba asked everyone to follow the Facebook page to get regular updates on the meeting and future endeavours the community is taking to address the Eskom issue.
For more information regarding the meeting email Madiba at bmadiba7@gmail.com.
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