Go-slow aggravates KwaDukuza electricity crisis

KwaDukuza municipality’s (KDM) electricity woes have worsened, culminating in a week of power outages and protests.

KDM’s embattled electricity department, which presided over R237.7-million in energy losses in the last financial year, has also seen increasing difficulty in managing supply recently.

Compounding the worst month of loadshedding in South African history in September, a number of power outages have also hurt residents, largely in the areas surrounding KwaDukuza town.

Last week, some areas experienced more than 48 hours of continuous outages, mostly between Shaka’s Head and Sheffield in the south, and Darnall in the north.

Residents in Kearsney had also complained of repeated outages over the past month.

Frustrations boiled over on Saturday, with protesters allegedly threatening KDM control room workers inside the Lavoipierre Building, later returning to burn tyres outside.

In response to the developing crisis, KDM’s so-called ‘Troika’, comprising the mayor, deputy-mayor, speaker and chief of council, met on Sunday to discuss the problems.

While apologising for the outages and admitting communication could have been better, the group made some alarming observations.

“The committee noted that certain officials have been refusing to take lawful instructions to work after hours, including weekends, as part of an alleged go-slow which has worsened the crisis.

This has contributed to the lack of warm bodies to attend to outages timeously.

“It also noted allegations that certain officials have been threatening their fellow colleagues from taking lawful instructions from management during this crisis. This includes failure to cooperate when instructed to attend to call-outs during outages.

“Troika and management have interpreted this stance as an ongoing fightback campaign against the council’s decision to manage exorbitant overtime paid over the years,” said ‘Troika’.

These are serious allegations made by the municipality of employees who are flagrantly disregarding the roles for which they are paid.

‘Troika’ indicated an “urgent need to strengthen the leadership of the electricity business unit to instill order and accountability”, but did not refer to any specific disciplinary action against those at fault.

At the time of print, KDM had not responded to queries on whether there had been dismissals, suspensions or fines handed out following the crisis.

Almost two months ago, the department announced a string of personnel updates, where the structure was to be streamlined to better deal with faults and outages.

Residents now wait with bated breath for the implementation of the SCADA system next year, which will partially automate fault responses.

‘Troika’ pledged to stamp out ill-discipline and poor performance, while putting further control measures in place.

“We believe that our ongoing efforts aimed at renewing and positioning the electrical business units will be felt in the long run by clients and the community. We urge our customers to be patient as we continue to ensure that the service is fully restored.”

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