Councillors have no influence when it comes to Eskom load-shedding
While they work for the people they were elected to represent, councillors' hands are tied.
Councillors are not allowed to tell City of Johannesburg officials what to do or how to do their jobs. This is a legislated rule for various reasons, including trying to curb abuse of power and corruption.
During highly stressful times for residents – such as the times we are facing now with load-shedding; problems with water infrastructure; potholes and other ills – ward councillors are taking the brunt of frustration from communities.
With load-shedding set to increase, it is important to remember what councillors can and can’t do.
Spokesperson for City Power (CP) Isaac Mangena said, “Load-shedding, especially Stage 6 is, unfortunately, is something we have to live with until Eskom’s capacity challenges are over.
“This means most customers should brace to experience load-shedding for more than three or four times a day due to the number of blocks we are adding to the outage schedule. This is beyond the control of CP and of ward councillors.”
He added that CP strives to ensure they support councillors and empower them with information that they can share with their communities on any issue regarding electricity service.
Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk said, “Of the 15 wards that work with Hursthill and Randburg depots, the moment Stage 5 or higher load-shedding is implemented, they are disproportionally affected by extended outages.”
Ward 88 councillor Nicole Jonker added, “We are not plumbers or electricians – so we are unable to fix any problems ourselves. The best we can do is escalate problem calls and request they be attended to. We do oversight on projects, but we are not supposed to be involved in service delivery issues. Often though the situation is so dire that we do all we can to help. Every entity is so run down and broken that it is often not city officials’ fault that things don’t work as infrastructure is old and broken, and it will take billions and billions to fix. At times such as we are facing now with water, power and other problems, it can become overwhelming when residents contact you in the hopes of a resolution, but our hands are tied and we can’t offer the relief they deserve.”
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