Municipality silent on load shedding

CONFUSION reigns regarding Eskom’s load shedding in Vryheid, largely because the municipality, for reasons only known to itself, is keeping quiet on the subject.

Last Thursday, it seems, Vryheid was subjected to this Eskom load shedding.

Parts of town were reportedly without electricity for up to a couple of hours, but no one knew if it was actually load shedding, no one knew when the power was going to be restored, and no one knew which area was next and at what time and for how long.

The municipality’s electrical personnel would not speak to the Vryheid Herald and answer even simple questions – they have been instructed not to.

But it did appear that Eskom had threatened Vryheid with a general power outage, and that Vryheid’s electrical department had said, “Hold on, Eskom”, how much power are you hoping to save?”, and Eskom had said, “So much, so many kilowatts”, and Vryheid had agreed to manage the saving locally.

The arrangement meant that the CBD could be kept running, and the saving would come by shutting down geysers and by shutting off different areas on a rotational basis.

The Vryheid Herald was referred to the municipality’s media liaison officer for an official comment.

An e-mail in this regard was sent to the media liaison officer, the Mayor, the Municipal Manager, and the Records Department in the municipal offices.

No one bothered to reply.

The e-mails were not even acknowledged.