Frustrated Alrode businesses threaten to migrate

This comes after an Alrode business centre and its neighbouring companies operated without power for two consecutive days.

In an interview with the RECORD, an aggravated Alrode business owner Grant Freeman pointed out that potholes are another factor that devalues the area.

Freeman said businesses are already moving out because of a lack of service delivery from the City of Ekurhuleni.

“We as Alrode businesses have taken it upon ourselves to buy stones and sand so that we put them in the potholes. However, the minute it rains the holes open up again. The potholes affect us on a personal and business level. Power outages are also a big concern,” he said.

He told the RECORD that they have been running five generators over seven properties to run basic uses in the businesses during the outages.

Freeman confirmed that businesses are already moving out of Alrode.

“As one drives down the road, most businesses are either for sale or buildings are standing empty. With these ongoing power outages, we have had to leave our gate wide open since it takes up a lot of power to operate using a generator and this creates a safety concern,” he said.

He also said in 2020, he and his tenants faced a loss of an excess of R5-million due to service delivery issues.
Ward 106 councillor Alderman Bruna Haipel echoed his sentiments and said businesses are the heart of the municipality and the financial backbone of the country.

“Most businesses in Alrode are threatening to close down because without proper service delivery businesses are likely to move out of Alberton. We will escalate this matter to parliament seeing that all our requests are ignored, ” she said.

Tim Denny, Ward 106 committee member, advised that neighbouring companies should opt to have a business forum and tackle these issues head-on.

On behalf of CoE, Themba Gadebe previously stated that the moving of businesses may have a weakening effect on the socio-economic status of the City and residents.

“It must be noted that no electricity distributor anywhere in the world can guarantee uninterrupted supply of electricity at all times. And that all metros and municipalities are facing similar challenges in terms of third party interference on the electrical network,” he said.