Kemptonians had to deal with 363 power failures in the first nine months of this year.
This means Kempton Park had on average 1.5 electricity outages a day from January 1 to August 31, said Michael Waters, MP and DA constituency head for Kempvale.
“It is unacceptable that as Kemptonians we are subjected to such a high number of electricity outages. It has impacted negatively on our way of life where families are forced to restructure their routines around having no electricity, sometimes for days on end.
“The city was plunged into six days of darkness when the Glen Marais substation caught fire, resulting in Kemptonians having no hot water, food rotting in fridges and people on oxygen having to make emergency measures so they could live,” said Waters.
In addition, the impact on businesses and the economy cannot be underestimated. It is no coincidence that our economy shrank by 0.6 per cent in the third quarter of this year. Without a reliable electricity supply, businesses cannot produce their goods nor can they expand, he added.
According to Waters, the Kempton Park service delivery area brings in the most money for the City of Ekurhuleni, with R1.4-billion being paid by residents and businesses during the last quarter.
“However, we are subjected to shocking service delivery. It is obvious that the metro sees us as a cash cow that does not deserve the reliable services we pay for.”
The breakdown of electricity outages, according to documents received by Waters, are:
Outages less than four hours: 321
Outages between four and eight hours: 26
Outages between eight and 24 hours: 12
Outages longer than 24 hours: 4
“To add insult to injury, during all these outages, the mayor had been noticeably absent by not once having the decency to come to Kempton Park to see for himself and to hear the residents’ concerns.”
