What a wonderful place to live! We are a family living in Lakefield; adjacent houses, both with full title. Parents in one house, son with his wife and two small children next door.
Just after noon, on Wednesday, May 21, the power went off in both homes; obviously we assumed a general area power outage.
We were expecting a family member for dinner that evening; she lives in Cape Town and plans were afoot for a delicious meal and pleasant evening.
After two hours without power it dawned that our neighbours DID have electricity, and so we both phoned and logged complaints, one per house, and reference numbers were issued.
Our guest arrived at around 6pm; still no power and zero communication from the “powers that be”.
We went out to a restaurant, returned to cold, dark houses, dripping fridges, deteriorating foodstuff and gates, garage doors and alarm systems all rapidly losing their battery back-up.
The toddlers were confused and the adults frustrated.
Our safety was compromised as we went to bed without the protection of alarm systems or electric fences.
The following morning brought no relief and no warm drinks for children; our cell phones were in need of recharging and our cordless main line phones do not work when the power is off.
“Survivor Benoni” came to mind!
Finally we thought to call Mary Goby; what an angel of mercy and efficiency she is.
It transpired that we had actually been mistakenly disconnected the previous day, the contractors having been given incorrect addresses; our accounts are paid up and in advance.
By the time we were reconnected we had been without electricity for almost 24 hours.
Compensation from the council for our trauma?
What compensation?
We are expected to suffer in silence!
Our sincere thanks to Mary Goby and Mpho in credit control; the rest of that lot are a dead loss.
