With the constant power outages in Germiston and surrounding areas, residents are planning a peaceful march to hand over a memorandum to the City of Ekurhuleni officials.

ALSO READ: CoE blames cable faults for Germiston power outages

The march is planned for July 6 at the Germiston Civic Centre.

Primrose and Wychwood residents were recently left without power due to a cable fault.

Janet Gerretsen said Primrose and surrounding areas have been plagued with power outages over the last few months mainly due to illegal connection

“Residents who pay constantly are battling to get services restored with little or no feedback from the energy department,” said Gerretsen.

“Requests for assistance from higher management in council fall on deaf ears. Trucks stand in the depot parking lot while many residents sit without power for days,” she said.

“One resident without power for 12 days was on life-saving oxygen.

“We kept getting false hope.

The feedback was that technicians are on their way. On their way for 12 days?

“Most of our residents are SASSA dependent and cannot afford to throw out food, buy solar lights or gas cookers and they shouldn’t have to.

Medicine needs to be kept in cold fridges but now they are discarded and not replaced due to lack of funds,” said Gerretsen.

“No reimbursement is forthcoming from the council – either for food or damaged appliances.

“The council is very quick to disconnect residents who are behind in their payments and sometimes disconnects the incorrect residents which takes days to restore,” she said.

She added that illegal connections cause problems, often leading to cables burning out or exploding.

“Residents have for six weeks now been requesting a meeting with the mayor and her team, but no luck.

ALSO READ: Local economy hit hard by power outages

We established a ratepayers association in Primrose to take this council to task but this takes time and in the meantime residents battle to breathe, keep warm and cope with constant outages,” said Gerretsen.

Liaguat Vengatass added that the CoE needs to be held accountable as he raised concerns about the state of infrastructure in Primrose.

“The infrastructure is in a poor condition as a result of neglect. The Germiston North substation is in its worst state,” said Vengatass.

He said water runs through the substation, which has no security to protect equipment.

“The council members get their salaries while residents are left to beg for services they are paying for.

“The memorandum will focus on the recent power outages and the state of electricity infrastructure in the city,” said Vengatass.

Ward 36 Clr Wendy Morgan said five power outages in her ward on June 22 were all related to a cable fault.

“The Wychwood area was affected at first by an electrical cable that exploded on Wednesday on Shamrock Road.

The repairs were done by Thursday and while the power was out more cables were vandalised at the old substation on Pretoria Road,” said Morgan.

She said repairs were delayed on Friday due to rain.

“The substation is decommissioned due to cable theft and vandalism, but cables still run through the station. There is security commissioned at the substation,” she said.

“The cables were cut and left there. There is a suggestion that we move the route of that cable to the other side of the road. It is going to be a long process and we hope it will be fast-tracked,” said Morgan.

“The cables at the substation were cut and left there. It is still not clear why they were cut. It could be sabotage or the thieves were somehow disturbed and could not return for the cables,” said Morgan.

“The Germiston North substation water situation is also attended to. The water is leaking from the Eskom side of the station. The relevant people have been informed.”

ALSO READ: Power outages, pandemic continue to cripple economy

The GCN requested comment from the City of Ekurhuleni by June 29 and again on July 1 at 13h00.
At the time of going to print no comment had been received.

For more information on the hand-over of the memorandum contact Gerretsen on 076 136 0714.