Locals fed up with power outages

Last week frustrated residents and businesses inundated the Express with calls and emails following yet another period of prolonged power interruption.

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Many of those affected had been without power since May 25.

According to co-owner of Parcel IT, Cyle Obermeyer, power outages negatively affected his business and resulted in the added expenditure of fuel for a generator to his business doors open.

He said he had tried to contact the City of Ekurhuleni for a reference number but was told the power was restored to Pomona.

He was also told that additional faults on the electricity lines were found in some areas but no indication could be given with regards to restoration time.

“This is not the first time we are experiencing these types of power outages,” said Obermeyer.

Stage six load-shedding further compounded issues faced by residents.

Wendy de Rooij told Express that electricity went off in her area on May 27 at 04:00 and days later technicians were still unable to find the fault.

“We are one of the businesses that operate in the area. We are finding it increasingly difficult to conduct our day-to-day operations.

“We are a small business that only employs 22 people.

“In today’s current economic climate I am extremely sure that an additional 22 people cannot become employed as well as we have had to close our business down as we are unable to continue production,” said Rooij.

In response to power outages, Ward 13 Clr Bulelwa Ngqwangi told residents that areas all affected were escalated to electricity teams.

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“I just follow up because the energy team does not have anyone on standby over the weekend,” said Ngqwangi.

According to resident, Chantell van Rooyen, the power simply did not come on after load-shedding.

“No one can give us any answers. This is not fair and some areas do not get load-shedding at all.”

She added that residents know that their infrastructure is problematic.

“We have families to support and we all know this is the new norm, but we can’t be without electricity for five days again.

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“The new complexes coming up in our area is a huge concern,” said Van Rooyen.

In response to residents, City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said that the outages are predominantly caused by cable theft and infrastructure vandalism during load-shedding.

“We were aware of the power outages and it has been restored,” said Dlamini.

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