From Kempton Park to Kempton DARK

Over 4 000 residents of Kempton Park formed a civil action group last month intending to get the city to address the prolonged power outages in the area.
Kempton DARK, founded by a resident known as Mr H, wrote a memorandum of grievances, including matters of non-service delivery, to the City of Ekurhuleni Chief Whip, Kheta Shandu.
On December 18, more than 1 000 residents gathered at a park close to Hoërskool Jeugland to express their frustration over extended power outages during stage six load-shedding.

“The longest we experienced power outages in the area was two days. As residents and business owners in Kempton Park, this frustrated us,” explained Mr H.
“We held meetings on December 18 and 19. In the 24 hours before the second meeting, we organised for the attendance of senior officials from the city. They were invited to address the issues we had,” he said.

Also read: KEMPTON POWER: Damage, faults and theft blamed for latest outage as teams work to restore power

He added that Shandu and the chief engineer for the CoE, Zipho Khumalo, were present at the second meeting.
“The EMPD and ward councillors Jaco Terblanche, Simon Lapping, and Tracy Lourenco were also present at the meeting.”
Ward 105 councillor Tracey Lourenco said the meeting organised by the residents and councillors fulfilled its mandate by reporting available updates to the residents.

“As councillor, I have done everything in my power to get the message through to residents.
“During stage six load-shedding, the area went out for four hours at a time. When the power was returned, it caused a huge overload and the power kept tripping.
“I don’t know what else I could have done besides keeping everyone informed with what came from the department itself,” said Lourenco.
The councillor said it was challenging to give out information when she was not getting any. However, she is committed to communicating with Kempton DARK members for a better working relationship.

“Since the lower levels of load-shedding, we haven’t had any outages and we’ve had a good run so far,” she said.
“I can understand the residents’ frustration as I am a resident of Kempton Park, too. But as a councillor, we are merely a voice. We don’t tell Eskom what to do, Eskom tells us what to do.”
According to Lourenco, the acting mayor had instructed the energy department HOD to attend the meeting. “However, he was unable to, and that is how the chief engineer, Zipho Khumalo, made it to that meeting.”
The councillor said she will continue to work with the residents of Ward 104 as she is committed to assisting wherever possible.
She said ward councillors are not copy-and-paste councillors but are there to help do legislative work.

The Kempton Express attempted to contact other councillors who attended the meeting, but they were unavailable.
Mr H said Kempton DARK was not a political organisation.
“The group will remain in place to assist residents struggling with ongoing service delivery. We now have residents coming to us, looking for assistance with issues such as refuse removal, ever-growing potholes in the area, and much more.
“As a group, we have made sure that with these kinds of issues as ratepayers, we get what is due to us.
“Councillors should be on their feet to ensure the city returns to being one of the most functional places in the province. Our goal will be to amicably seek resolutions from people who work in the City of Ekurhuleni and are supposed to help the residents,” said Mr H.
The group has more than 4 000 members who want to see Kempton Park in a better state.
Residents can email the group at kemptondark@gmail.com