His contract with GTM is expiring at the end of March and it is an open question if it will be renewed. In the wake of the last few months of constant outages and with a La Nina weather system raging, the dilapidated power distribution network is under severe pressure and residents are angry. “Our network has reached the end of its lifespan and with the weather patterns we are experiencing, we have had an unusual volume of disruptions,” he told the Herald.

Lelope says that GTM has an inhouse team of people who are responsible for clearing vegetation, the biggest single cause for outages, from power lines. “It is difficult to get these teams to do their work properly,” he says. “Clearing of vegetation used to be outsourced and it was done much better than what is the case currently.” Power lines run over private land and access to repair faults is a major issue, he said. Not only do teams have to deal with irrate landowners, but they are also faced with problems to enter and reach the areas where the faults have occurred.

Lelope acknowledged that complaints by residents that employees do not have the right equipment when they arrive to do maintenance or repairs, are unacceptable and should be dealt with by better management of their movements. Lelope says R500 million is needed to rehabilitate the network. “We have received R100 million from the DBSA (Development Bank of SA) of which a proportion of repair will be carried out,” he said.

Also read: POWER-LESS IN HAENERTSBURG

Lelope says that the current system is still operated manually and that plans to draw up a masterplan by experts will be finalised within the next months. “With the plan in hand, we can start to raise the capital to start rebuilding the system.” But, says Lelope, the demand for electricity in the GTM has not been increasing in the last years with many resorting to other forms of power such as generators. “This has a direct influence on income generation and how we are able to keep maintaining the system.”

One of the biggest issues that residents have, is the lack of communication from GTM. “In the master plan we will be setting up a fully-fledged automated system, not only f He says that the current WhatsApp groups have also been set up to streamline communications. “Admins of these groups are on our internal GTM electricity group and are able to ask questions and get information to report back on their groups,” he said. The resusitation of the Electricity Forum also helps communication, he said.

GTM was instructed by a parliamentary committee that looked into the power supply problems last year to reinstate the forum on which stakeholders sit and convene monthly. With regard to the extreme outages the town of Haenertsburg is facing, he said that a meeting was convened two weeks ago and that a list of urgent matters were going to be supplied to them on which they will be acting to try and alleviate the problems.

Lelope said that residents in Magoebaskloof can also look forward to two transformers that will be installed within the next month. One is an ‘out of use’ transformer adjacent to the Magoebaskloof Hotel but is situated on an inhospitable site and is difficult to reach. The other is a new transformer that will be installed in the vicinity of the Ebenezer Dam. With regard to the upcoming harvesting season in Letsitele, Lelope said they had a meeting with AgriLetaba in the last week and that they will be able to fulfill the expectations set by the sector.