Four Boksburg suburbs left without power for nearly two weeks
Load-shedding and ageing dilapidated infrastructure have been identified as the underlying problems.
Residents of Bartlett, Bardene, Atlasville and a small section of Impala Park are fuming over nearly two-week-long electricity blackouts believed to be a result of infrastructure damages caused by load-shedding.
According to a resident, who asked to remain anonymous, the power outage started at about 02:00 on Saturday, March 23, just after load-shedding had ended and power was supposed to turn on.
The resident lamented the ‘lack of urgency’ by the metro and the ‘failure’ to keep residents updated on what was going on.
“The municipality only acknowledged the problem on their Facebook page days after the outage occurred. And we have not had any feedback from the municipality on what is being done to restore our power.
“Our ward councillor, Simon Lapping, hasn’t been very helpful either. Residents are forced to get in their cars and drive around looking where council workers are working for them to get some sort of feedback. This is unacceptable and disgusting.
“What about the elderly, families, and children? The CoE constantly tells us to pay our rates and taxes on time, but they don’t give a damn when it comes to doing what they get paid to do,” said the resident.
The ward councillor, who confirmed that residents’ lives have been miserable since power failed to turn on after load-shedding, said officials told him that the outage came after load-shedding wreaked havoc on the ageing power cables.
He, however, assured residents that energy crews are working tirelessly to replace the damaged cables.
Lapping pointed out that the extensive cable repairs may take more days as a decision was taken to replace the dilapidated cables on a stretch of 1.2km between Atlas Road and Bartlett, while a 449 metre-long cable has been replaced in another section of the affected suburbs.
“The power system in the area was not designed to handle the impact of load-shedding, particularly when the power comes back on after an outage.
“The ageing electricity cables are also not helping the situation. The cables have, over the years, developed cracks that result in power failures that have become a headache for both the energy department and residents.”
Lapping said it’s still unclear as to when this blackout will end in the affected areas because the cabling needs a major upgrade.
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