Umdloti residents threaten legal action over power cuts

Umdloti residents are considering legal action against the eThekwini Municipality if the protracted electricity crisis is not resolved this week.

This after the municipality’s electricity boss, Maxwell Mthembu, failed to show up at a meeting with the Umdloti Beach Residents and Ratepayers Association (UBRRA) last Thursday which was ordered by the mayor.

At a community meeting held on Saturday, November 25, mayor Mxolisi Kaunda promised to get Mthembu to come to Umdloti and meet with UBRRA and the Umdloti Smart Village (USV).

UBRRA and USV representatives waited for an hour and twenty minutes but nobody from the municipality showed up.

UBRRA chairman Petrus Scholtz said they were very disappointed that Mthembu defied the mayor’s instruction.

Besides sorting out the electricity crisis, Scholtz said they were eager to establish a similar line of communication with the electricity department as they have with other departments responsible for potable water, stormwater, sewage, and roads.

Umdloti has experienced more than 300 hours of power cuts unrelated to loadshedding since January.

To improve the antiquated system, the laying of two new 11kVA cables to supply the new Salta development and Umdloti started earlier this year. Work remained on track until May but then hit a snag in getting approval from Sanral to lay the cables underneath the N2 and M4 highways.

However, approval for that portion of the work was obtained in the first week of October and that portion of work was completed by the following week.

But two months later the cables still lay idle, and nobody has been able to obtain an explanation from the municipality’s electricity department.

According to a statement released by the USV on Friday, Mthembu posted a WhatsApp message on Thursday night they had “begun the process of switching on the new cables and would continue until they were operational which was estimated by [this] Friday”.

eThekwini spokesperson Gugu Sisilana also said the new cables were close to being switched on but refrained from committing to a timeline.

“Our protection and test branch is currently doing its safety checks before final clearance to switch on can be approved. Once the clearance is issued, the cables will be energised. These two new cables will accommodate the rapid load growth in the area due to new developments.”

Referencing various sections of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act and the Housing Act in an email to the Courier, Advocate Damian Bond explained the basis of the UBRRA’s contemplated legal action against the municipality should they fail to connect the new cables this week.

“It is abundantly clear that electricity supply is one of the core obligations of a municipality. It can be presumed that the constant repair of aging infrastructure is more costly than the fairly simple connection of-new infrastructure which already has been purchased and placed in the ground. This is then not conducive to the prudent, economic, efficient and effective use of available resources.”

Follow The North Coast Courier on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube for breaking news

WhatsApp Broadcast Service: https://chat.whatsapp.com/BdGZsGJEAf04AXZ2yLWi8T