Damages ran into the thousands of rands for many Empangeni homes and businesses which spent a large part of three days without electricity last week during the hot weather.
The mass blackout began at 4pm on Wednesday when contractors reportedly damaged some cables below ground where they had been digging.
This caused both the Eskom 1 incomer and the HIHO feeder cable to trip on the earth fault, plunging Empangeni and its suburbs into darkness.
Electricity was intermittent for most, but permanently off for some, until 6pm on Friday evening.
On Thursday emergency load-shedding was implemented as municipal workers attempted to carry out repairs in phases owing to the high voltage.
It is thought that heavy rains in the preceding week contributed to the problem as some cables were underwater.
At the same time, parts of Meerensee also lost electricity for a few hours intermittently.
According to sources within the City of uMhlathuze, the core problem is a lack of infrastructure maintenance, coupled with questionable competence of electrical workers.
They say there is a major failure of critical maintenance and repair or replacement of electrical components.
The sources said it was recommended at the most recent electrical portfolio meeting that an independent body be appointed to verify the competence of municipal electricians, that their practical experience and know-how must be individually tested.
Echoing these sentiments, IFP Treasurer in the uMhlathuze constituency, Willem Diedericks, said the failure to maintain and improve the electricity and water infrastructure is a cause for concern.
‘This infrastructure has not been improved and there is no maintenance to prevent such blackouts,’ he said.
‘This is a life-threatening situation. More and more houses have been added to the same ungraded electricity grid and it is now overloaded.
‘Hospitals have to use generators, spending a lot of money on diesel, and businesses are badly affected.
‘This will collapse the economy of our city.’
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