Germiston residents have been stranded without electricity for over 60 hours.
Ward 36 councillor Wendy Morgan said there is an overtime payment dispute and the Germiston Energy Department is striking.
“The same problem occurred over the festive season and now again,” said Morgan.
The LamDel Residents Association with its residents and businesses also voiced their frustration on the matter.
“We are up in arms over the lack of electricity and zero response from the council. December 2020 was unlike any December; it’s been a hard year for all our residents.
“And now we enter January, the most stressful month of the year, with no power and even less feedback,” said Jakkie Janse van Vuuren, chairperson of the LamDel Residents Association.
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The association is the official residents’ association for Delville, Denlee, Webber, Parkhill Gardens, Klippoortjie North, Lambton, Hazeldene, Hazelpark and the Germiston Lake.
Cyndy Whiting, the head of communication, added that these outages are taking a toll on over 5 000 houses and businesses in the LamDel area.
“We don’t only have houses and businesses affected, but also a number of schools, preschools, places of safety and churches.
“Not only are our elderly who are on oxygen suffering, but also families who are struggling to make ends meet are now having to throw food away.
“It’s a huge waste and an unnecessary expense.”
In 2020, the LamDel area was hit by a number of outages. Just through the LamDel members’ network, LamDel reported over 3 000 outages within 12 months, with some lasting days on end.
The exco of LamDel and their residents said they are not taking this matter lying down.
“We have sent a letter to the mayor, MMCs, city manager and the relevant heads of departments and copied the Gauteng premier’s office in on the mail.
“LamDel has also put together a petition calling for better services, more communication and a commitment to actually fix all our issues once and for all.
“What is making matters worse is that we are told that there is a ‘strike’ taking place because of overtime that hasn’t been paid to the energy team; but we receive no confirmation of such.
“I have blatantly asked the MMC if there is any truth to the matter and have received no answer.
“We empathise with the energy staff that have not been paid their promised over time, but the council’s IR issues are not our problem.
We are being held hostage by the very council we pay.”
Morgan stated in a media release that on prompting the city manager for a response, she has responded that the relevant HODs are attending to the problem.
“A meeting was held on January 5 between the department and its employees; however, an agreement was not reached.
“This signals bad news for Germiston residents as the potential for them to be held ransom by the striking employees remains.
“It is extremely unfortunate that residents are the ones that ultimately suffer from the CoE’s poor planning and management.
“While the department and the employees dispute over the apparent lack of payment, residents in the area are the ones who are left to suffer,” stated Morgan.
GCN sent the City of Ekurhuleni a request to comment before January 7 and no reply was received by the time of publishing.
Contact the newsroom by emailing:
Marietta Lombard (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, or (Journalists) Busi Vilakazi busiv@caxton.co.za , and Lebogang Sekgwama lebogangs@caxton.co.za.
