FREQUENT power outages in the Assagay area have led to residents calling on the eThekwini Municipality to prioritise local electricity infrastructure upgrades, provide a clear action plan with timelines to permanently resolve the issue, and ensure accountability and service delivery are restored.

The residents are of the view that these outages are being caused by ageing and failing infrastructure.

It has been reported that as of September 26, the community has endured more than 33 continuous hours without electricity, and that these outages have been experienced throughout the year, with a claim that 38 separate power outages this year alone have hit the area.

During these outages, residents have had to log 386 fault reference numbers with eThekwini Municipality, they claim.

According to the residents, on some days, over 20 separate reference numbers were generated for a single incident.

Residents are calling on eThekwini Municipality to:

1. Prioritise Assagay for immediate electricity infrastructure upgrades.
2. Provide a clear action plan with timelines for permanent solutions.
3. Restore accountability and reliability in service delivery.

“We are paying ratepayers’ money for a service that simply does not work. Businesses cannot operate, families are left without essential services, and safety is compromised during extended blackouts. The infrastructure in Assagay is outdated, and without urgent upgrades, this cycle of outages will continue. The people of Assagay deserve better. We are not asking for special treatment, we are asking for the basic service we already pay for,” reads a letter posted in a WhatsApp community group called Dark Ages.

The area’s PR councillor, Mxolisi Khubisa, said residents from Botha’s Hill also raised concerns about rolling outages.

“The residents have been experiencing frequent power outages, occurring multiple times daily, often two to three times per day. While the municipality has been making every effort to restore power, it is clear that the issue is not due to a lack of competence or skills among staff, but rather stems from challenges related to ageing infrastructure,” said Khubisa.

Khubisa said a community meeting where solutions to the challenge may be ventilated is yet to be confirmed by officials from the municipality.

The municipality was yet to respond to a media enquiry by the Highway Mail.

Resident Norma Wilson said she was still working with another to collate the figures of the number of times the power outages have hit the area and the adverse impact this has had on locals.

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Wilson said she knows of a resident who “was in an absolute panic” when an outage hit recently because they had just had heart surgery and rely on battery powered equipment that needs to be charged.

The elderly too need to be considered in times when there is no electricity, said Wilson.

Business owner and resident Claire Blackbeard said the situation has worsened over the years and has become “100 times worse now”, with the municipality’s leadership failing to meet with community members to discuss how to resolve the issues.

In terms of business, Blackbeard said the power outages are a frustration, with seeming electricity infrastructure failures occurring “sometimes twice a day and something will blow”.

Another resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said they moved to the area in November last year and within a week they experienced a power and water outage.

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This resident said there were a few more electricity blackouts in December last year, with these increasing to about 33 in January this year.

“It is never less than three hours at a time. It has in the past lasted for two to three days and if you are working from home, everything that you have for back-up goes flat and you are forced to make other plans. I work from home and I know of people who work from home and it just becomes an untenable situation,” said this resident.

The anonymous resident added that prolonged power outages also raise concerns over food freezers and safety concerns as alarms and electric fences stop working.

“We have had incidents of late of a few break-ins. If your power supply is down long enough, your safety systems do not work and basically you are a sitting duck,” said the person, who added that local leadership has been “dead quiet, not involved” and “not helpful”.

The municipality was equally unhelpful and has only given automated responses to an issue which has become emotive, said the resident.

Also read: Residents to sign petition decrying service delivery

Daniella Grams, the owner of Chantecler Hotel, spoke of the harm the power outages have had on her business, which includes non-functioning boreholes when there is no electricity.

“In the hospitality industry if the fridge goes above 5 degrees Celsius for more than four hours you have to throw everything out,” said Grams, who said this has made the running of the business near “impossible”.

Another issue Grams has had to contend with are diesel and petrol prices for the generators procured to mitigate the power outages.

The generators, she added, are noisy too which does not go down well when hosting events such as weddings where speeches may be drowned out.

“The inconvenience is endless,” said Grams, who added that they have given up on the municipality because that  “is like banging your head against a brick wall, you will only hurt yourself”.

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