Public meeting set over persistent power outages in Assagay
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana says the Energy Management Directorate has proposed to hold the meeting on October 16 and is awaiting confirmation from the councillor regarding the time and venue.
THE eThekwini Municipality has confirmed that a public meeting has been scheduled for October 16 over persistent power outages in the Assagay area.
The residents of the area had called on the municipality to urgently upgrade the electricity infrastructure in the area, which is hit by frequent severe power outages.
The municipality’s spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the area’s ward councillor has requested that a public meeting be convened “where the Energy Management Directorate has been invited to present the findings, outline remedial measures to ensure consistent supply, and highlight the importance of protecting electrical infrastructure”.
“A key focus will be to emphasise the role communities can play in safeguarding municipal assets, particularly in preventing vandalism, theft, and misuse.
“The directorate has proposed to hold this engagement on October 16 and is currently awaiting confirmation from the councillor regarding the time and venue,” said Sisilana.
Sisilana said the directorate conducted a thorough analysis of the outages in Assagay and it found “that over the past three months, 33 outages and associated work requests were recorded”.
Sisilana said these outages were linked to a variety of medium-voltage outage issues including:
* Equipment failures
* Medium voltage cable faults
* Pole leaning incidents
* Burnt jumpers
* Overhead wires down
* Copper theft
* Cable damage
* Overloading caused by existing network faults
“This assessment has provided critical insights into the underlying causes of the frequent disruptions, further enabling the Directorate to formulate sustainable solutions,” said Sisilana.
She added that residents are reminded to report outages and cable theft immediately via:
• WhatsApp Chatbot: 076 791 2449
• Updated Municipal App
• Contact Centre: 0800 11 11 11
• Website: webfaults.durban.gov.za
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