According to notices issued by DA Ward Councillor Helda de Klerk, multiple cable faults are to blame for the lengthy power outage that parts of Kanonkop have experienced since Tuesday morning at 07:00.

Cllr. De Klerk informed agitated residents that the power outage had been reported on numerous occasions and that the lack of feedback from the municipality’s electrical department was unsatisfactory.

According to a message currently circulating on social media platforms, the meeting with Steve Tshwete Local Municipality’s Municipal Manager, Mr Mandla Mnguni, is in progress and the electrical problems will be addressed.

A public notice issued by STLM yesterday said that power outages were due to theft and vandalism of municipal infrastructure during load-shedding hours.
The message confirmed a sharp increase in cable theft and called on residents to assist in policing and monitoring vulnerable areas.

While frustrated residents who continue to sit without electricity are given a mandate to assist in community policing, the lack of feedback from the electrical department is yet another sign of Middelburg’s rapid decline.

Evidence that the municipal go-slow is dismantling service delivery can be seen everywhere.

• Juanita Coetzer, a resident of Clubville, shared her astonishment over Middelburg’s water.

Ms Coetzer explained that she and her family relocated to Middelburg two weeks ago from Mbombela, “The standard of municipal service delivery in Mbombela is average, at least the water there is fit for consumption. I cannot believe that Middelburg residents do not complain about the state of the water here on a daily basis.”

Ms Coetzer explained that since their arrival, she has experienced an upset stomach which she owes to drinking Middelburg’s tap water.

She also admitted to adding bubble bath to the bath water to stifle the stench, as well as reporting that her laundry comes out stained after washing it,

“Residents should stop accepting these standards as the norm! We should plague the municipality with daily calls to the point of annoyance because that should eventually spur them into doing something about it.”

• The overgrowth of grass in public parks has also been flagged as a point of concern for residents. An in-depth article about the lack of feedback from the municipality’s parks department can be read in this week’s Middelburg Observer.

• A go-slow launched by municipal employees was confirmed by two ANC Councillors, including stand-in mayor Marumo Sekgwele, during the last council sitting of 2022.

During the sitting, the house called for scrutiny of municipal department heads who allow employees to abuse the municipality’s overtime policy.

It was also then revealed that some employees rake in so much overtime that their salaries exceed that of their managers.

Despite the admissions, no solution was offered by the council to address the go-slow, which has evidently poured itself into the new year.