Since early December, consistent blackouts have plagued the southern electricity grid, leaving Ballito, Zimbali, Salt Rock, Sheffield, Umhlali, and surrounding communities in darkness. These outages caused hundreds of hours of combined power loss during the busy festive season. Residents have taken to the Courier’s Facebook page to voice their frustration.

Fiona Dorse – In Pennington, immediately [after] the problem is found they send a photo of the problem, the solution they are going to take and the approximate timeframe. This calms everyone down and stops a barrage of queries. Perhaps we should employ the strategy here? It is also nice to show where the problem lies because the community then gets involved by bringing the workers cool drinks in the heat and things for them to eat if it goes on into the night. Let us rather build our country and relationships instead of the ongoing strife.

Desiree Venter – Fiona Dorse, they get salaries and overtime so they can sort their own food and drinks. I understand what you are saying, but remember it’s their job to fix the electricity when it is down and to do the maintenance. They applied for the job. They are not doing us a favour, it’s their job! And we are paying dearly for electricity, and pay for rates and taxes.

Wally Muller – Desiree Venter, I hear you and yes I used to earn a really good salary, and yes I used to do fault finding and repairs no matter the weather or time, but things like cable joints on high voltage cables take time (and usually after peak usage time when it gets dark). They are usually in hard to reach areas and you become full of mud and dust with spiders if not the occasional snake coming out. Let me tell you that nothing beats a coffee brought to you by a friendly neighbour no matter what time of day it is. For me it is a simple humanitarian thing that separates us from supposed lesser life forms.

Lionel Stringer- The irony of “thank you”. When government officials finally rectify a problem they’ve created, people often express gratitude. This can be seen as ironic, as citizens are essentially thanking officials for fixing a problem that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.
Examples:
– “Thank you for finally fixing the potholes on our street!”
– “I appreciate you resolving the issue with our power outage”
– “Thanks for addressing the concerns we’ve been raising for months.”
This phenomenon highlights the complexities of civic engagement and the nuances of holding those in power accountable.

Jeffrey Khumalo – Days upon days without proper feedback is insane, thousands have been lost in revenue and some tourists have promised to never return to Ballito.

Jar Nev – KDM doesn’t care about business, tourism or attracting investment to the area. There’s no incentive for them. Never mind the residents – who do they think they are questioning KDM?

Dee Dee – So, is it just coincidence that increased power issues always occur in December? Will probably have lots of downtime again in April. When there’s no power it means the sewage waterworks also malfunctions, so next well probably have polluted beaches. Even saw a post by KDM “management” blaming a hadeda that sat on a transformer. Have we even got any accredited blue flag beaches left? We’ll have to adapt to a Zim standard. It seems like this situation is not a new issue but have been snowballing for a long time already without any progress or substantial intervention or improvement.

Naomi van der Merwe – But we still need to pay for no service!

Glenn Middleton – Just more excuses and no action, it’s never been this bad. Time for legal action!

Mary-Anne Jackson – Total lack of maintenance, incompetence and corruption.

Pierre de Charmoy – KDM communication to ratepayers is inadequate.

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